Anastomosis of blood vessels by the patching method and transplantation of the kidney. 1906 [classical article]

The patching consists of closing an opening in the wall of a vessel by fitting and sewing to its edges a flap taken from another vessel or from some other structure such as the peritoneum [1]. For example, a portion of the wall of a carotid artery may be removed and the opening thus produced closed by a patch taken from the external jugular vein. The anastomosis by the patching method consists of extirpating a vessel together with an area or patch from the vessel of origin, the patch being so cut that the mouth of the extirpated vessel is situated in the center of the patch. The edges of the patch are then fixed to the edges of a suitable opening made in the wall of another vessel. For example, a spermatic artery of a dog was dissected and removed with a triangular patch of the wall of the aorta surrounding its mouth. The edges of this patch were then sutured to the edges of a suitable opening, made in one of the femoral arteries. The spermatic artery was thus anastomosed to the wall of the femoral artery (Figure 1). AIM