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.