Systems, Devices, and Methods to Prevent Auto and Xeno Graft Failure

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery is performed on nearly half a million patients with multivessel or diffuse coronary artery disease each year in the United States. Venous grafts, used in about 95% of patients, occlude and fail, however, at a rate of 50% within 5-10 years after surgery, leading to repeat revascularization procedures, myocardial infarction, or death in 30% of patients within 5 years of graft failure. Guided by advanced computational modeling, researchers at Stanford and Yale have developed a custom constructed, multilayer, patient-specific sheath composed of biocompatible, biodegradable, elastomeric, drug-eluting biomaterials to serve as an external (non-blood contacting) support for prevention of vein graft failure.

State of Development:
There is a prototype with plans for evaluating efficacy in an animal model.