Performance of a polyurethane vascular prosthesis carrying a dipyridamole (Persantint) coating on its lumenal surface

Abstract: A porous polyurethane vascular prosthesis with an internal diameter of 5 mm was studied. The graft carries a coating of immobilized dipyridamole (Persantint) on the surface of its lumen. Dipyridamole is a potent nontoxic in-hibitor of platelet activation/aggregation, and also a strong inhibitor of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation. The polyurethane material is also known as Chronoflext, and already finds use as a vascular access graft. The coated vas-cular graft was studied in vitro (hemocompatibility, interac-tion with blood platelets and cultured endothelial cells), as well as in two established in vivo models. In the first in vivo study, coated grafts were implanted in goats, as a bypass of the carotid artery (four animals, eight grafts, length of the graft was approximately 12 cm). Four uncoated grafts were used as controls in otherwise identical experiments. In th