Objective To repair defects at both ends of theblood vessels with a considerable disparity in the diameter of the both sides or with a large diameter in extremities by phleboplasty of branched and double autogenous veins. Methods Three kinds of phleboplasties——funnel-shaped, raincape-shaped and transposed Y-shaped were designed. Experiments in fresh blood vessels in vitro were completed successfully. These methods were used clinically to repair injured external iliac veins, femoral arteries and veins, and popliteal arteries and veins, to replant severed fingers and to transplant toenail flaps on thumbs by harvesting autogenous great saphenous veins,small saphenous veins and forearm veins in 36 cases, including 35 cases in emergency operation and 1 case in selective operation.The length of grafted blood vessels ranged from 1.0 cm to 15.0 cm. Results The phleboplasties of funnel-shaped could enlarge the diameter by 1.0-1.25 times inanastomotic stomas. The phleboplasty of raincape-shaped could enlarge the diameter large enough to meet the demands for various blood vessels in extremities. The phleboplasty of transposed Y-shaped could provide large vein transplants. In36 grafted veins, 35 were in patency. The blood supply in extremities was normal.ConclusionThe funnel-shaped and raincape-shaped phleboplasties of branched veins can enlarge the anastomotic stomas of grafted veins. The transposed Y-shaped phleboplasty of double femoral veins is an ideal way to repair injured primaryblood vessels with a considerable disparity in the diameter of the both sides or with a large diameter in extremities.
The femoral veins were excised from 28 dogs and distended with pressure of 40, 80 and 120 kPa, respectively before grafted to femoral arteries. The veins were harvested at different times and Pollak sections were prepared which revealed different stains of elastin, collagen and smooth muscle in each section. The sections were led to image analysis system to computerize the relative contents of theabove components. The results were as follows: Elastin decreased significantly at 4 weeks (P lt;0.01), and was constant between 4 and 16 weeks. No statistical difference was found in 40, 80 kPa and the control group (P gt;0.05), but the elastin of 120 kPa group by the 16th week was still decreasing. Collagen of each group had no difference, but C/E increased significantly with time. Smooth muscle contents were correlated positively with time, and negatively with the pressure at 1 week, then positively with the pressure at 16th week. The changes of the above trends were the same as development of intimal hyperplasia. The contentions were the value of C/E was determined by the arterial pressure but that of 120 kPa pressure was more higher. The preimplant pressure distension was a possible significantfactor leading to excessive intimal hyperplasia of early and middle stage of autogenous vein grafts.