The Relationship of Human Saphenous Vein Intimal Area to Age and Gender

The saphenous vein is an essential element in arterial bypass surgery. It is known to develop intimal thickening following transplantation to the arterial circulation. No data are available on the relationship of normal saphenous vein intimal area and the age or the gender of the patient. One hundred sixty-two consecutive, donated, cadaveric, midtibial samples of the long saphenous vein were harvested. The donors ranged in age from twelve to eighty-two years; there were 121 males and 41 females. The areas of the intima and media and the intimal ratio (intimal area/[intimal + medial area]) were calculated by computer videomorphometry. There was no correlation between the three variables and age, but there was a significant correlation between the gender of the donor and the intimal area (r²=0.25, P=0.0012) and the intimal ratio (r²=0.34, p = 0.0001) showing that females have a greater intimal area than males. These findings suggest that gender should be considered as a variable in the choice of suitable control values in subsequent human studies on the development of intimal hyperplasia in venous bypass grafts.