Vessel wall stress and remodelling at a graft-artery junction

The mechanics of a 45/spl deg/ end-to-side graft-artery junction were modelled numerically and the resulting stress distribution was compared to that found in (i) a normal artery-artery junction and (ii) a graft-artery junction with tissue thickening around the suture-line. The tissue thickening reduced the maximum stress concentration in the graft-artery junction from 1.5 times the maximum artery-artery junction value to 1.2 times that value. These results support the theory that suture-line thickening is part of a remodelling process which attempts to reduce the mechanical stress at the junction to a more physiological level.