A Biodegradable Vascular Coupling Device for End-to-End Anastomosis

When performing microsurgeries, the procedure of vascular anastomosis is frequently performed. When executing this procedure, the most widely used method is hand suturing the vessels back together. This process, however, is extremely time consuming (depending on the size and location of the vessel and the experience of the surgeon) and is subject to human error. The vascular coupling device and its accompanying installation tools in this work have been designed and tested to reduce human error and significantly decrease the amount of time required to perform the anastomosis. Tests that were performed on a revised biodegradable vascular coupling device include the time required to complete the anastomosis, a pressure leak test (both open-end and sealed-end), and a tensile test. The coupler was also installed on the carotid arteries of 2 living and 2 cadaver swine. The coupling device was installed in an average of 7 min and 34 s (n = 3), had significantly less leakage than hand sutured anastomoses, and was able to withstand an average tensile force of 8.65 +/- 2.55 N (n = 5) before failure.