Determination of the patency of vascular prostheses implanted in the rat aorta by means of ultrasonic blood-flow measurements.
Patency of vascular prostheses implanted in the rat aorta is usually confirmed by reoperation and inspection of the distal stump of the aorta for pulsations. Repeated reoperation on rats included in long-term investigations is not possible because of the increasing formation of scar tissue and adhesions at the site of the distal aorta. Consequently, noninvasive ultrasonic Doppler measurement was investigated to determine whether this method could provide accurate information about the patency of an implanted prosthesis. A total of 37 rats with 10-cm-long prostheses implanted in the aorta (groups C nonsupported prostheses, n = 12; and D supported prostheses, n = 25), eight normal nonoperated controls (group A), and three rats with a ligated aorta (negative controls, group B) were studied over a period of 12 weeks. The Dopplerrecordings obtained in the normal animals served as controls for the recordings of rats with an implanted prosthesis. A prosthesis was considered patent if the Dopplermeasurements obtained from the femoral artery resembled that of the normal pattern. In seven cases a prosthesis was suspected to be occluded since the Dopplermeasurements resembled those obtained after aortic ligation. Autopsy confirmed the Dopplermeasurements in all cases. No Dopplermeasurements returned to normal in the femoral artery in the aorta-ligated rats even after longer periods post-operation. It is concluded that Dopplermeasurements can accurately provide information about the patency of a vascular prosthesis implanted in the rat aorta.
D000818:Animals; D001012:Aorta, Abdominal / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D008297:Male; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D012212:Rheology; D014654:Vascular Patency