VFT were delighted to welcome Professor Pramook Mutirangura, Head of Vascular Surgery Division of the Mahidol University’s Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, to their Global Headquarters in Dundee recently.  Prof. Pramook, who is also President of Thai Vascular Association (TVA) and President Elect of Asian Society for Vascular Surgery, met with VFT’s UK Team and was given a tour of the office and warehouse facility. During his visit he also met with one of the Company’s founders, Professor Peter Stonebridge at Ninewells Hospital where he gave a presentation on specific vascular cases to an invited clinical audience.

Professor Pramook is pictured with VFT’s UK Team, including CEO, Bill Allan (second left).

Larry Hayes, President and the VFT Inc Team look forward to welcoming you to these events.

There are four presentations or posters that talk about Spiral Laminar Flow™ and the benefits it offers.

The first presentation relating to Spiral Laminar Flow™ is on Thursday 25 April, the first day of congress, in the Forum (Main) Hall at 15:44. Dr Priam Heire (UK) will present his research entitled: Is the Structure of the Vessel Wall a Generator of Spiral Flow? A Cadaveric Histological Study.

Three further presentations will be made during the poster sessions of Friday, 26 and Saturday, 27 April. Full abstract submissions are attached. The following are extracts from these:

A NEW CHOICE FOR VASCULAR ACCESS: SPIRAL FLOW AV GRAFT

Cetingok U

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kavaklidere Umut Hospital, Ankara, Turkey

From July 2010 until January 2013, Spiral Laminar Flow PTFE Graft (Vascular Flow Technologies Ltd., UK) was implanted in 16 patients for vascular access. Primary graft implantation was performed in 2 patients. Mean follow-up was 26 months. Complications such as graft infection, pseudoaneurysm, venous hypertension were not seen and thrombectomy was performed two patients due to graft thrombosis. Primary patency rate was 88% and secondary patency rate was 100% during follow-up.

EARLY EXPERIENCE WITH THE SLF (SPIRAL LAMINAR FLOW) AV ACCESS GRAFT

Inston, N¹, Hofmann WJ²

¹Department of Renal Surgery, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2WB. UK

² Department for Vascular Surgery, Feldkirch General Hospital – Academic Teaching Hospital of Innsbruck Medical University, Carinagasse 47. A-6800 Feldkirch, Austria

A prospective series of implants was been collated from two surgeons series. Since September 2010 twelve SLF-AV Access grafts were implanted. All grafts were used in patients with complex access histories (median of 6 previous AV access procedures). Primary patency in the series is 75% at a mean time point of 188 days (range 0 to 448).

Whilst this represents a small series with limited follow up this early experience of the SLF AV is encouraging. Doppler studies support the SLF generating spiral flow at the distal (graft to vein) outflow and the short term data herein supports a low incidence of outflow stenosis with excellent primary patency to date.

HEMODYNAMIC DIFFERENCES IN THE OUTFLOW OF ACCESS VASCULAR GRAFTS

Kokkalis E¹, Hoskins PR², Corner GA³, Doull AJ¹, Stonebridge PA¹, Houston JG¹

¹Cardiovascular and Diabetes Medicine, ³Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, UK, ²Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Results: A single spiral flow was detected in the outflow of the spiral graft and two or three spirals in the outflow of the control device, for both types of anastomosis. Flow separation and areas of stagnation were detected when more than one helix existed. The radial velocity was consistently higher for the single spiral in comparison to that of the multi-spiral patterns under all the applied conditions. The flow pattern under high flow rates was stable for the spiral graft and disturbed for the control device.

Conclusions: The single helical pattern created by the spiral graft was associated with increased magnitude of radial velocity. This is an index of increased wall shear stress which is considered atheroprotective. These results support the hypothesis that spiral graft improves flow stability and coherence which may relate to increased graft patency rates.

Click here for more details on the Poster Presentations

During a provocatively titled session: Vascular Flow Technology: Another run of the mill graft or a breakthrough technology?, two surgeons gave presentations about their respective clinical experience using Spiral Flow™ AV Grafts.

First to present, Dr Hosam El Sayed from the Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas highlighted the results of 19 Spiral Flow™ AV Access Grafts placed in 18 patients.  The mean follow-up was 6 months and primary patency of 90% and secondary patency rates of 100% were reported.

Dr El Sayed commented ‘Early results are encouraging and tend to be better compared to standard straight ePTFE and heparin bonded grafts. This might be explained on the basis of improved haemodynamics created by the spiral laminar flow’

See the presentation here.

Dr Wolfgang Hofmann from Feldkirch in Austria presented his experience of using 10 Spiral Flow™ AV Access Grafts in 10 patients. He told delegates that his AV access strategy focusses primarily on utilising native fistula. All patients had previous failed procedures, with one patient having as many as 11. Dr Hofmann described the graft patients as ‘negatively selected’.

Only one problem was observed with one patient had an early occlusion of graft only two months after implantation. A revision was undertaken and another Spiral Flow graft was implanted in a different position but it thrombosed also.  It was discovered that this patient is an alcoholic, who is said to sleep with his head on his arm (directly over the graft). It was decided that this patient was not suitable for graft therapy.

All Spiral Flow^TM grafts in the rest of the patients remain patent. The first Spiral Flow graft implantation was undertaken in September 2010 and, more than 26 months after implantation, that graft is working well with spiral flow observed at the venous anastomosis.

‘Compared to standard ePTFE grafts, the initial results using these grafts have been excellent’ Dr Hofmann stated.

See the presentation here.