The Effective Measurement of Dynamic Internal Compliance of Vascular Grafts
25th Annual Meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, Proceedings, 22, (1990)

J. C. Conti, Ph.D., E. R. Strope, Ph.D., D. J. Rohde

Dynatek Laboratories, Inc., Galena, MO

The clinical importance of matching the compliance of a vascular graft to the host vessel has been a point of contention for many years (ref.). One possible explanation for this unsettled controversy could be that the compliance determinations used to evaluate compliance/patency correlations were improperly performed. Over the past 8 years we have tested all the published techniques with the resulting conclusion that they are all less than ideal. As a result we were required to develop our own instrument and technique for this determination.

In this paper we will discuss the pros and cons of the various techniques and present data demonstrating the importance of cycle rate on the compliance of natural bovine internal mammary arteries, latex tubes, PVC tubes and two different types of polyurethane vascular grafts. As an example, below is the speed dependent radial compliance of an elastomeric vascular graft.

Speed (cpm)    1  100    200   400   800  1600  2000
% compliance  *   3.33  3.33  3.33  2.85  2.22  1.76

* too much creep to measure.

1. Abbott, W.M., et. al., Effect of Compliance Mismatch on Vascular Graft Patency,
    J. Vasc. Surg., 1987 Feb. 5(2) p376-82.

2. Kidson, I.G., The Effect of Wall Mechanical Properties on Patency of
    Arterial Grafts., Annals of The Royal College of Surgeons, 1983 Jan. 65(1). p24-9.

3. Lyman, D.J., et. al., Compliance as a Factor Effecting the Patency of
    a Copolyurethane Vascular Graft., J. Biomed. Mat. Res., 1978 May 12(3). p337-45.

Dynatek Laboratories, Inc., Fourth and Main, PO Box 254, Galena, MO 65656