Baton Rouge, LA – Vascular Specialty Center physicians in conjunction with Vascular Specialty Center Clinical Research division has been selected as one of a few national sites to assess the efficacy of a new vascular graft.  The GORE PROPATEN Vascular Graft is the first ePTFE vascular graft that reduces clotting and is designed to address the clinical problem of thrombotic vascular graft failure. The GORE PROPATEN Vascular Graft is the first and only ePTFE-heparin combination in an emerging class of medical products that combine mechanical and biological elements. It is designed to address the gap in clinical performance between synthetic and vein grafts by bonding the anticoagulant drug heparin to the surface of the graft using proprietary heparin end-point covalent bonding.  Vascular Specialty Center is the sole gulf coast regional site that will participate in a randomized trial assessing the PROPATEN graft in limb salvage bypass procedures and a registry for hemodialysis access.

As many as 12 million Americans over the age of 50 are affected annually by Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD). PAD manifests as a built-up of plaque in the wall of an artery resulting in either narrowing or blocking of the artery, limiting blood flow to the limbs. Surgical vascular bypass is a common treatment for PAD. The use of autologous veins as a bypass conduit has been the standard of care for below-knee bypasses as synthetic grafts historically have not matched their clinical performance.

“Gore’s PROPATEN graft has tremendous potential to provide conduit for those patients without adequate vein to prevent amputation in those with vascular disease” says Dr. Andrew J. Olinde, principle investigator.