New surgical technique for portal venous port system in Swine.

The need for serial blood sampling and continuous infusion using the portal vein for experimental surgery and pharmacological studies is evident. As suitable animal models are rare, we established a new technique to implant a permanent vascular access device to the portal vein in swine. All operations in study animals (n=8) were technically feasible due to a regularly detected side branch of the portal vein within the inferior pancreatic region; complications did not occur. Mean operation time was 48+/-17 min. This study clearly shows that the portal venous access is feasible and can be achieved safely using the inferior pancreatic vein for a permanent vascular access port system. Copyright (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel.