I 



1908.] TRANSPLANTATION OF VESSELS AND ORGANS. 693 



Thus, the vessel, while in cold storage, was in a condition of unmani- 

 fested life. 



The behavior of a vessel, transplanted after having been killed, 

 by formalin or by heating at 80° C, is different. Often its appear- 

 ance is normal, from a gross anatomical standpoint. Nevertheless, 

 a few days after transplantation, its microscopical constitution is 

 deeply modified. Its wall is composed of an amorphous material 

 where no nuclei can be observed, but where the elastic framework 

 still is visible, although very modified in its shape. The wall is 

 surrounded by a layer of connective tissue produced doubtless by 

 the host. A dead vessel is merely a foreign body, which would pro- 

 gressively be resorbed and replaced by connective tissue. Throm- 

 bosis frequently occurs after this kind of transplantation and its 

 use is dangerous from a clinical standpoint. On the contrary, a 

 vessel, preserved for a few days in a condition of latent life, is still 

 a living structure when it is transplanted. Its use is as safe as that 

 of a fresh artery. 



In all the cases where the vessels spent more than eight days in 

 the ice-box, the muscular fibers of the media disappeared a few 

 days after transplantation. Nevertheless, the anatomical results 

 were often so perfect that, after a few months, the location of the 

 transplanted segment on the artery of the host was hardly discerni- 

 ble. On April 2, 1908, a piece of carotid, preserved for twenty-two 

 days in cold storage, was transplanted on the carotid of a dog. On 

 October 15, 1908, the neck was opened and the carotid dissected. 

 It was not possible to find the location of the transplanted segment. 

 After longitudinal opening of the carotids, the location of the anas- 

 tomoses could be determined. (Plate VII, Fig. 2.) The result of 

 the graft of a vessel which had spent seventy days in cold storage 

 was as satisfactory. Six months after the operation a section was 

 made through the middle part of the transplanted segment. The 

 adventitia was normal and the intima thickened. The media was 

 composed of elastic fibers which had retained their ordinary wavy 

 appearance. All the muscular fibers had been destroyed. 



The actual method failed to give positive results in the trans- 

 plantation of arteries after several months in cold storage. Graft 

 of arteries which had spent eight months outside of the body was 



