Report of Committee on Blood Vessel Banks

Abstract

Recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of segmental lesions of large blood vessels have created a need for storage of arterial and venous grafts and plastic prostheses. It has been the purpose of this paper to describe in some detail the problems and technics of procurement, sterilization, preservation and utilization of arterial and venous grafts. Emphasis has been placed on the need for bacteriologic and histologic safeguards in the maintenance of a blood vessel bank. A brief section was devoted to the current status of plastic prostheses. Finally, it is of considerable importance to recognize the fact that this is a new field which is being subjected to intensive study and that advances and modifications will be forthcoming. Therefore, this paper represents an interim rather than a final report.