Low Thrombogenicity Coating of Nonwoven PET Fiber Structures for Vascular Grafts

Abstract Vascular PET grafts (Dacron) have shown good performance in large vessels (≥6 mm) applications. To address the urgent unmet need for small‐diameter (2–6 mm) vascular grafts, proprietary high‐compliance nonwoven PET fiber structures were modified with various PEG concentrations using PVA as a cross‐linking agent, to fabricate non‐thrombogenic mechanically compliant vascular grafts. The blood compatibility assays measured through platelet adhesion (SEM and mepacrine dye) and platelet activation (morphological changes, P‐selectin secretion, and TXB2 production) demonstrate that functionalization using a 10% PEG solution was sufficient to significantly reduce platelet adhesion/activation close to optimal literature‐reported levels observed on carbon‐coated ePTFE. magnified image