Dynamic compliance of vascular prostheses

Abstract

The dynamic compliance of cooley Double Velour, Microvel Double Velour, weaenit, Cooley 2 and Woven double Velour all commercially available vascular grafts were determined using a new device developed in our laboratory. Preliminary results indicate that the vascular grafts tested are all rigid. Further, it has been demonstrated that there is a positive correlation between yarn mobility and compliance, which is demonstrated by the fact that knitted and velour structures exhibit higher compliances than woven or smooth structures respectively. The presence of hysteresis in the grafts tested is indicative of their visco-elastic nature. This behavior is likely to result in dilation in all these grafts, with the possible exception of woven grafts.