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INTRODUCTION
Although arterial sutures are widely used in vascular surgeries, they present problems in some cases. These problems occur particularly in patients who are currently using anticoagulants, in those who present coagulopathy, and also in those cases in which vascular prostheses are necessary[1]. In the latter case, there may be bleeding problems in the needle hole. Certainly, tissue adhesives (TA) may be used as sealants to drop or avoid undesirable bleeding which can lead to morbidity and mortality rise. However, there is a range of products and, consequently, the need of an effective evaluation of a likely advantage from the TA use to avoid leakage in sutures is widely recognized[2]. Whenever TA is used as a complement to sutures, the TA should allow a bleeding-free artery closure, as well as through the needle holes. The present study aims to verify, on practical basis, the effectiveness of a biological origin adhesive, as well as a synthetic origin adhesive in sealing arterial sutures. This verification was done by checking the higher intravascular pressure level that can be supported before leakage occurs in the treated site, in order to compare the effectiveness of the two adhesives and to check if the adhesives penetrate in the inner surface of the vessel through the suture site.
METHODS
The present study has been granted by the local Research Ethics Committee (CEUA-FMJ no. 230/2012). Segments of the abdominal infrarenal aorta were removed from slaughtered adult pigs (around 90 kg) in a slaughterhouse and promptly taken to the Surgical Technique Laboratory. These segments were prepared through adjacent tissue removal (keeping the adventitious layer tied to aorta) and through emergent branches tied with 4-0 cotton suture. One edge of the "Y" polypropylene tube (Compojet Biomédica, BA, Brazil) was firmly tied to the lumen of the aorta through 2-0 cotton suture. The aorta distal segment edge was fully occluded through a vascular clamp. After that, a saline solution at 0.9% NaCl was injected into the aorta segment in order to verify if there was any leakage through branches of the aorta and, in case of leakage, fix it (4-0 cotton suture). Whenever the aorta segments were leakage-free, a 100 mm longitudinal incision with no. 11 scalpel blade...