EARLY RUPTURE AND DEGENERATION OF CRYOPRESERVED ARTERIAL ALLOGRAFTS

Arterial allografts are used in vascular surgery to solve a major prob lem: vascular reconstruction in the infected area. To palliate the una vailability and to reduce the risk of viral disease transmission, vasc ular allografts are currently cryopreserved and stored in tissue banks . In our recent clinical experience, we observed several cases of rupt ure and degeneration of cryopreserved arterial allografts. All indicat ions are that current cryopreservation protocols are probably the caus e for these degenerations.