AUTHOR=de Vries Margreet R. , Quax Paul H. A. 

TITLE=Inflammation in Vein Graft Disease

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine

VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2018

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cardiovascular-medicine/articles/10.3389/fcvm.2018.00003

DOI=10.3389/fcvm.2018.00003

ISSN=2297-055X

ABSTRACT=Bypass surgery is one of the most frequently used strategies to revascularize tissues downstream occlusive atherosclerotic lesions. The great saphenous vein remains the most common used conduit for venous bypass surgery. Unfortunately, graft efficacy is low due to the development of vascular inflammation, intimal hyperplasia and accelerated atherosclerosis, and failure is associated with significant adverse outcomes and mortality. The last couple of decades not much has changed in the treatment of vein graft disease. However, insight is the cellular and molecular mechanisms of vein graft disease has increased. In this review we discuss the latest insights on vein graft disease and the role of inflammation in this. We discuss vein graft pathophysiology including hemodynamic changes, the role of vessel wall constitutions and vascular remodeling. We show that profound systemic and local inflammatory responses, including inflammation of the perivascular fat, involve both the innate and adaptive immune system.