Annals of vascular surgery
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The serious medical consequences and costly management of infections associated with vascular grafts have prompted an expanding interest in examining the preventive efficacy of antimicrobial-coated vascular grafts. The purpose of antimicrobial coating of vascular grafts is to reduce bacterial colonization of the device and, hopefully, the occurrence of clinical infection. ⋯ We also showed in a rabbit model that subcutaneously placed minocycline/rifampin-coated vascular grafts have lower rates of staphylococcal device colonization (1/24 = 4% vs. 8/30 = 27%, p = 0.033) and device-related infection (0/24 = 0% vs. 6/30 = 20%, p = 0.028) than uncoated grafts. These promising results encourage the clinical evaluation of vascular grafts coated with minocycline and rifampin.