CIRCUMFERENTIALLY FLEXIBLE VASCULAR GRAFTS

An arterial graft with a corrugated cylindrical cross-section has been proposed as a partial solution to the problem of elastic stiffness mi smatch between conventional grafts and arterial tissue (Trescony et al ., 1994, US Patent 5,282, 847 (granted February 1 1994)). A two-dimens ional ring theory model and a finite element shell theory model are us ed to study the inflation under uniform interior pressure of grafts wi th noncircular cross-sections as a first approximation to their behavi or in vivo. For the physically relevant range of area expansions (typi cally 7-10%) and pressures (8-18 kPa), corrugations can significantly reduce the graft stiffness in comparison to conventional circular cros s-section grafts. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.