PRELIMINARY EVALUATION OF A TECHNIQUE FOR INHIBITING INTIMAL HYPERPLASIA - IMPLANTATION OF A RESORBABLE LUMINAL COLLAGEN MEMBRANE

Pharmacologic control of intimal hyperplasia has been attempted throug h oral and intravenous administration of smooth muscle cell inhibitors . We report a more direct method of altering arterial healing using a novel bioresorbable membrane that can be applied to the lumen of an ar tery or anastomosis following endarterectomy or vascular reconstructio n. Following a standard balloon injury, the infrarenal aortas of 3 kg female New Zealand white rabbits were opened and a thin membrane compo sed of collagen/chondroitin 6-sulfate copolymer was sutured to the pos terior wall of each artery. Animals were killed at intervals of up to 3 months. All arteries remained patent. By 24 hours the membrane had b ecome infiltrated with fibrin and red blood cells. An inflammatory res ponse ensued and by 8 days the membrane was filled with mononuclear ce lls. At 3 months only a small remnant of the membrane remained. Intima l hyperplasia developed throughout the injured aorta. However, the hyp erplastic response beneath the membrane was no greater than that obser ved in the adjacent injured aorta. A bioresorbable membrane can be sut ured into the lumen of a small-diameter vessel without inducing thromb osis and without locally increasing intimal hyperplasia. A prosthesis of this type might be used to deliver inhibitors of smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration to the injured arterial wall.