An animal paired crossover ePTFE arteriovenous graft model

In 4 pigs, AVGs of 15 cm length were created bilaterally in a cross-over fashion between the carotid artery and the contralateral jugular vein. Two days (2 pigs) and two weeks (2 pigs) after AV shunting, graft patency was evaluated by angiography, showing all four grafts to be patent, with no sign of angiographic or macroscopic narrowing at the anastomoses sites.In this modified pig AVG failure model, implantation of a bilateral cross-over long AVG is a feasible approach. The present model offers a suitable tool to study local interventions or compare various long graft designs aimed at improvement of AVG patency.Intimal Hyperplasia (IH) in the venous outflow traject constitutes the number one cause of ArterioVenousGraft (AVG) malfunction and failure. Previously, our group described a porcine model for rapid AVG failure due to IH [1].This model consisted of a bilateral short 7 cm length loop between the ipsilateral internal jugular vein and common carotid artery using reinforced, thin-walled, 5 mm inner diameter extended Polytetra fluoro ethylene (ePTFE) grafts (Figure 1). Despite a suitable tool to study local interventions for short length AVG, a serious limitation of this model was the maximum possible graft length of 7 cm due to ipsilateral positioning in the dissected animal neck. Furthermore, AVGs with various design modification such as tapering or the addition of external reinforcements could not be tested.In the present report, we describe our experience with a modification on the previous model, addressing this limitation, enabling us to implant and study long length AVG.A total of 4 female Landrace pigs, weighing 56 ± 2.6 kg, received bilateral crossover AVG (Thin-walled, ePTFE grafts without circular reinforcement measuring 5 mm inner diameter and 150 mm in length (W. L. Gore, Flagstaff, AZ, USA) versus ePTFE spiral graft (Tayside Flow Technologies Limited, Dundee, UK) between the carotid artery and the contralateral internal jugular vein. The rationale