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Ann Thorac Surg 2005;79:1465
© 2005 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Correspondence

Endothelialization and Functional Neointima on Vascular Grafts in Humans

^_* Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, The Heart Institute of Japan, Tokyo Women's Medical University, 8–1 Kawada, Shinjuku 162–8868, Tokyo, Japan

(E-mail: 4crnry@hij.twmu.ac.jp).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

To the Editor:

The article by Walles and colleagues [1] demonstrated neointimal functionality of vascular grafts explanted from left ventricular assist device (LVAD) systems. The provocative findings of Walles and colleagues [1] raise some important concerns.

Endothelial cells lining the lumen of a vascular graft usually form a single layer, whereas the authors observed multilayer immunohistologically in the outflow conduit and showed it in figure 1 of their article. Although the luminal coverage of the inflow conduit was described as neointima, it seems to be fibrin adhesion, because the authors mentioned that adherence was loose by macroscopical observation. Immunohistological staining of CD31 and factor . . . [Full Text of this Article]