A temporary bypass used in end-to-end anastomosis of major vessels without stopping blood flow in the segment under repair

The authors developed an original set of tools and a method of carrying out end-to-end anastomosis on major vessels, without stopping blood circulation in the vascular segment being repaired. The proposed set of tools includes 10 tubes (temporary vascular grafts) made of medical silicone with external diameters from 8 to 26 mm. The length of each tube is not less than 10 cm, and the wall thickness is 1.2 mm. A spiral notch with a step of 1.2 mm is made on the outer surface of the tubes, to a depth of 1 mm. The set of tools also includes a set of metal hollow half — cylinders with a through hole made in the middle, designed to extract the temporary shunt of the appropriate diameter. Before the formation of a vascular anastomosis, a silicone tube is selected, the outer diameter of which corresponds to the inner diameter of the damaged vessel. It is necessary to cut off a length of the tube, so that 2–3 cm of it could be introduced into the lumen of the proximal and distal segments of the damaged vessel. A stay-suture is laid in the center of the temporary bypass, on a site of its wall between two neighboring spiral notches. The ends of the temporary bypass, pre-filled with saline solution, are introduced into the distal and proximal ends of the divided vessel and are firmly fixed in the lumen of the vessel with two elastic bands. After placing the temporary bypass in the lumen of the damaged vessel, the blood flow is restored. Using the intraluminar temporary shunt as a scaffold, the edges of the vessel are approximated and stitched to its entire circumference, tying the first and last stitches of this seam. The last additional suture is placed in the area of the stay-suture overlying the wall of the temporary vascular shunt and is not tightened. A half-cylinder is placed above the untightened vascular suture and a stay-suture is placed at its opening. After that, tightly pressing the metal hollow half-cylinder to the vascular wall, and applying traction to the ends of the stay-suture the mechanical destruction of the silicone tube along the line of the spiral incision ensues. As a result, the tube is transformed into a double silicone rod, which is pulled through a through hole in the metal half-cylinder floor. After the extraction of the tube, the anastomosis is completed by tying a knot on the provisional suture. To simulate the proposed method, 10 operations were performed using a closed experimental circuit that completely simulates the real situation of restoring a damaged major vessel. The time of the operation, the technical features of the intervention, as well as the volume of “blood loss”, which was estimated by reducing the volume of blood circulating in the experimental circuit, were evaluated. Experimental testing with the use of a model simulating the situation of restoring a damaged major vessel, demonstrated the effectiveness of the developed method of applying a vascular end-to-end anastomosis with the use of a destructible temporary bypass; the average time of the operation was 10 minutes, and the volume of blood loss did not exceed 5 ml. The proposed set of tools and method can be effectively used in case of major vessels injury. The technique completely excludes the need for interrupting blood flow through the sutured vessel; it allows to reduce the volume of blood loss in vascular trauma, minimizes the time of ischemia in the area of blood supply to the damaged artery or venous stagnation of the drained segment (when suturing a vein), as well as to facilitate the imposition of a vascular suture to surgeons who do not have sufficient qualification in vascular surgery.