Tracheal replacement by autogenous aorta

BACKGROUND: Tracheal defects may occur after trauma or prolonged intubation. Resection of tracheal tumors also poses a major challenge for substitution. In an effort to solve this problem, different techniques have been tried with little success. We report on a new animal model which showed acceptable results with fewer complications. METHODS: We replaced 5 cm of cervical trachea in 10 dogs with harvested infra-renal aorta and repaired the aortic defect with Dacron graft. RESULTS: Necropsy of the grafted aorta and anastomotic site revealed well healed anastomosis in all animals together with ciliated columnar epithelium coverage of grafted aorta and neovascularization of aortic wall. CONCLUSION: Aortic graft is preferable to other substitutes because of less antigenicity, less vascularity, and no mucous secretions or peristalsis