Principles of Autologous, Allogeneic and Cryopreserved Venous Transplantation

For the great majority of patients, there are adequate autologous veins for both peripheral and arterial coronary bypass procedures.

For the group of patients, for which no autologous tissue is available, allograft veins from human donors are often the only option for revascularization.

The first chapters in this book deal with autologous arterial bypass surgery and allogenic procedures.

Later in the book, issues specific to allografts are discussed.

These topics include immunology, vein donor screening and testing cryobiology, both as method of reduction of the immune response and for storage.

The concluding chapters review the experimental and clinical literature of allograft vein transplantation.