The use of Tachosil® surgical patch or fibrin glue in coronary artery surgery does not affect quality of anastomosis or provoke postoperative adhesions in pigs

Fibrin glue products and collagen surgical patches (TachoSil) coated with coagulation factors I and IIa are increasingly being used to prevent oozing from distal or proximal coronary anastomosis. Furthermore, an increasing number of patients are being operated upon anti-platelet therapy. These patients often exhibit diffuse bleeding. Especially in an off-pump scenario surgeons refrain from placing additional stitches in order to avoid an impairment of the graft. In these situations, a biological glue can help resolve this dilemma. It is, however, assumed that these products may exert negative effects on the anastomosis. For obvious reasons a systematic histological assessment in humans is impossible. Therefore, a chronic, large animal model was developed to study the fate of these products on a coronary anastomosis.