High-dose Preoperative Fractionated Radiotherapy Does not Affect the Patency and Healing of ePTFE Vascular Prosthesis after Replacement of Canine Abdominal Aorta and Inferior Vena Cava

Abstract

Preoperative fractionated radiotherapy affects vascular healing via suppressing the development of neointima formation in the abdominal aorta graft.

Radiation suppresses neointimal hyperplasia through affecting proliferation and apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells

“…The current preventive strategies for targeting the neointimal formation include pharmacologic agents and brachytherapy (6-8). Previous studies have extensively explored the effectiveness of radiation therapy in reducing neointimal hyperplasia with several animal models, including coronary angioplasty model (9, 10), dialysis access grafts or fistulae model (11, 12), and aortic interposition model (2). Several clinical studies have demonstrated a significant decrease in vascular restenosis following brachytherapy (13, 14), including for instance the BRAVO trial (15).…”

“…Radiation therapy remains an important treatment in clinical practice. Our previous preliminary experimental study demonstrated that perioperative radiotherapy could significantly reduce the neointima thickness of the prosthetic grafts (2). The mechanisms by which radiotherapy inhibits the VSMC proliferation and migration in prosthetic grafts are not yet fully understood, and the cell cycle control system seems to play an important role.…”