Arteries from human beings are less infectible by Staphylococcus aureus than polytetrafluoroethylene in an aortic dog model

Purpose: Treatment of aortoiliac prosthetic graft infections includes the removal of the infected material and repeat revascularization if necessary. The risk of infection of the graft material used for the repeat revascularization has been the drawback of its use in situ except with autografts. Good results were obtained in this setting by use of in situ arterial allografts. The purpose of our study was to compare in vivo the infectibility of arteries used as allografts to the infectibility of commercially available prostheses. Methods: Twelve dogs underwent thoracoabdominal aortic bypass with use of either an artery from a human being (n = 6) or an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) graft (n = 6). One month later, bacteremia was produced with Staphylococcus aureus. One week after bacterial challenge, the animals were killed to recover the grafts. Each graft then underwent bacterial study. Results: None of the arterial grafts grew bacteria, whereas four of the six ePTFE grafts (p < 0.05) did. In addition, none of the fragments of the arterial grafts grew bacteria, whereas 24 of the 60 ePTFE fragments (p < 0.01) did. Conclusion: Nonautologous arteries are less infectible than ePTFE in vivo. This decreased infectibility makes the arterial allograft an appealing material when revascularization must be performed in a contaminated field.