In a series of 35 femoropopliteal arterial homografts reviewed by a group of University of Rochester investigators, all grafts patent beyond one year eventually became aneurysmal.
"This finding has led us to believe that all similar sized homografts that remain patent will eventually become aneurysmal," Hendrick B. Barner, MD, told the Annual Convention of the American Medical Association.
Barner and coworkers from the Department of Surgery, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, studied arterial homografts obtained from patients under 45 years of age who died following trauma or nonmalignant and noninfectious diseases.
The coworkers were James A. DeWeese, MD, W. Andrew Dale, MD, and Earle B. Mahoney, MD.
These 35 arterial homografts had been placed in the femoropopliteal systems as shunts around occlusive vascular disease or to replace resected, diseased arterial segments. The homografts were placed between May 1955 and March 1958.
Aneurysmal degeneration occured in six of