The techniques of vascular anastomosis and blood vessel grafting are undergoing constant revision and improvement. Developments in vascular surgery have been recently hastened by the widening scope of therapeutic applications. Almost no segment of the human aorta is immune from surgical attack at present, encompassing such various pathologic entities as coarctation, thrombosis, aneurysm, and arteriosclerosis. In many of these conditions after the diseased segment has been resected it is impossible to restore vascular continuity without the interposition of a graft. The present-day surgeon has his choice of fresh, frozen, and freeze-dried arterial homografts, or he may prefer one of the recently introduced plastic cloths for a grafting material. Grafts in the venous system are less frequently indicated than in the arterial, but they have found recent application in the performance of portacaval shunts and in treatment of the superior vena cava syndrome. Venous autografts are usually used for grafts in