Reports of individual surgical cases tend to be anecdotal because of the unique circumstances surrounding the patient, the surgeon, the intervention and, where applicable, the prosthetic device. To overcome this limitation the authors have taken a wider collaborative approach and report the analysis of 61 explanted
polyester arterial
prostheses associated with delayed complications on 53 patients reoperated upon in six different French hospitals. One advantage of such an independent and centralized retrieval programme is that the impact of centre specific factors, such as patient selection and surgical techniques, is minimized. Consequently, by following a standardized protocol for the evaluation of the morphologic, pathologic and mineralogic characteristics of the tissue surrounding the excised grafts, as well as the textile structure of the
prostheses themselves, it has been possible to distinguish between iatrogenic and disease related complications and to demonstrate a number of general findings associated with the clinical performance of
polyester arterial
prostheses. Complications such as
thromboses,
infections and
false aneurysms appear to occur randomly after different lengths of implantation, thicker fibrous tissue capsules are associated with
velour grafts with highly textured yarns, the incidence of mineralized tissue and of endothelialized
luminal surfaces is rare, weft knitted textile
prostheses appear less mechanically stable and more sensitive to iatrogenic
trauma than warp knitted, and the incidences of
lipid and
cholesterol adsorption, bacterial colonization and sterile fluid loss need further investigation. These observations lead to the recommendation that for patients with longer life expectancies surgeons should consider selecting low porosity, woven or warped knitted
prostheses which contain yarns that have not been highly textured.