Absence of tissue ingrowth through the textile fabric in a series of explanted clinic stent-grafts.

Using the retrieved devices from one autopsy and five reoperations, the biocompatibility of explanted Talent stent-grafts was investigated to highlight the capacity of the fabric to act as an effective scaffold to regenerate a blood conduit. The autopsy device was encapsulated both internally and externally, but the capsules did not penetrate through the fabric structure. The reoperation devices showed discrete patches of compact fibrin and irregularly scattered mural thrombi. Positive staining of α-actin, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), urokinase (uPA), urokinase receptor (uPAR), and urokinase inhibitors (PAI 1, PAI 2, PAI 3, and protease nexin), and D-dimer was more frequently identified in the autopsy sample than in the reoperation samples. This preliminary assessment shows that the stent-graft retrieved during autopsy was better healed than those explanted at reoperation.