Abstract: A woven vascular graft having a texturized outer surface to promote tissue ingrowth into the graft. The outer surface of the graft is equipped with a plurality of threads that are woven into, and extend from, the outer surface. The threads may be arranged in rows, lines or a geometric pattern. Alternatively, the threads may be towel-like. Such towel-like threads may be arranged in the form of a cuff at each end of the graft, or may cover larger portions of the exterior of the graft. The graft may be equipped with only one texture, or with a plurality of different textures.

Abstract: The invention estimates a cardiac performance value such as cardiac output (CO) and cardiac ejection fraction (EF) by sensing a downstream indicator concentration signal y(t) that corresponds to an indicator (preferably heat) signal x(t) injected upstream in a patient's blood channel. The signal x(t) is preferably generated as a series of alternating transitions between a high state and a low state, such as a PRBS signal. The signal y(t) is then divided into at least one sub-signal that is synchronous with x(t). A decay parameter &tgr; that minimizes a cost function that includes a time-domain channel relaxation model is then calculated. The cardiac performance value is then calculated based on this value for &tgr;. For each transition of the injected indicator signal, a corresponding segment of the indicator concentration signal is preferably isolated, and a segment relaxation parameter is then calculated.