Venous repair with vascular clips and conventional suture: A comparative experimental study

Objectives: The non-penetrating Vascular Clip System (VCS) was tested exper imentally and compared with the conventional suture method on the venous sy stem. Materials and Methods: In five pigs, 30 transverse venotomies were carried out in the jugular and renal veins, and vena cava. Fifteen venotomies were reconstructed using autosuture clips and 15 using the standard needle and s uture method. Eight weeks later, following phlebography, the specimens were examined macro- and microscopically. Results: For both methods, the veins remained patent; however, significant stenosis of 8.9% (95% CI: 0.6-17.1) for the renal vein and 8.5% (95% CI: 1. 2-15.7) for the vena cava occurred when the suture technique was used. The intima to media height ratio remained the same. The anastomosis time with t he clips was significantly shorter (p<0.05),while the endothelium remained intact without any hyperplasia or inflammatory changes, which are usual fin dings of the suture technique. Conclusion: Early and mid-term results show that the VCS clipped anastomoti c technique seems to be effective and acceptable for venous reconstructions .