Lipid accumulation in prosthetic vascular grafts. Experimental study.

The present study demonstrates that the endoprosthetic tissue, developed at the contact of Dacron and Gore-Tex vascular prostheses replacing the infrarenal aortae of healthy dogs, presents a particular lipidic pattern as compared with the adjacent intimal arterial layer. The modified lipidic pattern is characterized by a significant increase in the total amounts of cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides, despite a normal lipidic plasma profile. Histochemical studies showed that lipid droplets are accumulated in the cytoplasm of deeply situated cells and in the extracellular matrix. These findings support the idea that lipids may be trapped within the pseudo-intima of synthetic vascular grafts, even in the absence of a major plasma lipid disorder, and contribute to the prosthesis failure.