The search for a simple and ever-ready material for bridging defects in large arteries, to reestablish the flow of arterial blood to the distal parts of an extremity or to vital structures of the body, has been pursued by investigators for many decades. In 1900 Payr1 published the results of experimental studies with absorbable and non-absorbable materials and he concluded that collars and tubes of absorbable magnesium, lined by autogenous venous grafts, functioned satisfactorily when used to bridge defects in large arteries. In 1906 Carrel2 studied the problem of suturing blood vessels and later used autogenous venous grafts, homologous arterial grafts, and heterologous arterial grafts to bridge defects in arteries in animals. The first World War gave Tuffier3 an opportunity to use tubes of various metals to bridge defects of large arteries produced by wounds of war.
In the decade 1930-1939, our4 attention was centered around