To solve endoleakage problems of endovascular
prostheses inserted in
aortic aneurysms, a concept originating from tissue engineering was proposed. We proposed that in order to accelerate the
thrombus inside the
aneurysm, three major factors for successful tissue engineering, i.e., appropriate cells, extracellular matrices, and
growth factors, should be introduced into a space between the endovascular grafts and the
aneurysm. As a simulation model in animals, two kinds of fabric
vascular prostheses were used. One was a small graft used as an endovascular graft and another was a large graft as an envelope for the small graft, used as the
aneurysm wall. Adipose tissue fragments with fresh blood coagula were injected between the two grafts. The control was a preparation without tissue fragments. Two months and a half after surgery, the test group showed complete connective tissue formation in the space between the two grafts, but in the control, brownish
thrombus remained. From this experiment, we speculated that tissue fragment
transplantation will accelerate connective tissue formation of the
thrombus, and this complete organization of the
thrombus might reduce endoleakage.