The effects of low, medium and high dose aspirin on intimal proliferation in autologous vein grafts used for arterial reconstruction

Bilateral femoral vein grafts were implanted in 47 adult mongrel dogs to determine the effects of aspirin on intimal hyperplasia. The animals were fed a commercially-prepared 2% cholesterol diet before and for 6 weeks following operation. Twelve animals served as the controls while the remaining animals were divided into three groups receiving low, medium, and high dose aspirin. Eleven animals received 75 mg of aspirin daily, 11 animals were fed 225 mg of aspirin daily and the remaining 13 animals received 650 mg of aspirin daily. A coagulation profile was carried out before operation and at 2, 4 and 6 weeks following operation. The grafts were harvested at 6 weeks and intimal thickness was measured with a Zeiss computerized interactive image-analyzing system. The prothrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, and platelet count were unchanged in all animals. The bleeding time was prolonged in animals receiving aspirin (P less than 0.02). Intimal thickness measured 4 +/- 0.2 microns before implantation and increased at 6 weeks to 39 +/- 5 microns in the control group. Aspirin failed to reduce intimal hyperplasia. Intimal thickness measured 37 +/- 2 microns in those animals receiving 75 mg of aspirin daily, 35 +/- 3 microns after a daily dose of 225 mg of aspirin and 51 +/- 4 microns in the high dose group receiving 650 mg of aspirin daily. Our data indicates that aspirin fails to reduce intimal proliferation in canine vein grafts which suggests that alternative or combined drug therapy may be necessary to reduce the incidence of late graft failure.