From August 1989 to February 1992, 32 patients underwent vascular reconstructions using crimped bovine pericardial conduits processed in glutaraldehyde. The introduction of the crimping process used for synthetic vascular prosthesis provided circular tubes, which retain their shape with bending and avoid kinking. Twenty-nine patients (Group I) presented vascular lesions involving the thoracic and/or abdominal aorta, including aneurysms, acute dissections, coarctation and aorto-iliac lesion. The thoracic aortic reconstruction was performed in 25 patients, including aortic valve replacement in 10, the abdominal aorta in 2, and the aortic bifurcation in 2. Three patients (Group II) with complex congenital heart lesions underwent reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract in 2, and the Fontan operation in 1. Hospital mortality in Group I was 24% (7 patients). Causes of death were low cardiac output in 4, recurrence of aortic dissection in 2 and respiratory infection in 1. Six of them had been operated upon as emergencies due to acute aortic dissection. All patients in group II survived the operation. There was 1 late death in group I due to methabolic complications related to diabetes and chronic renal failure. This initial clinical experience showed a mean follow-up of 16 months per patient and the longest follow-up was 32 months. It was not observed any late complication related to the crimped bovine pericardial conduit up-to-date.
arterial prosthesis; vascular prosthesis; aneurysms, aortic