title: Assessment of tissue blood flow following small artery welding with an intraluminal dissolvable stent.
abstract: Using the technique of radioactive 51Cr-labeled biological microspheres, this study evaluated arterial blood flow following small vessel anastomosis by CO2 laser welding and a dissolvable stent in the lumen. A total of 30 Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups. Group A: 11 rats had their femoral arteries ligated on one side. The contralateral side served as a control, with the artery transected and repaired using conventional microsuturing. Group B: 19 rats had their femoral arteries transected and repaired using CO2 laser welding and an intraluminal dissolvable stent technique. The contralateral side was again used as a control using conventional microsuturing. At 1 hr postoperatively, 51Cr-labeled biological microspheres were injected centripetally into the left common carotid artery and the legs and thighs immediately harvested for measurement of radioactivity. All repaired arteries were patent (30/30 in the microsuturing group and 19/19 in the stented welding group), with no detectable stenosis or dilation at the repaired site. Statistical analysis showed that tissue radioactivity (cpm/g) in the ligated group (3,972 +/- 384 in thighs and 3,142 +/- 742 in legs) was significantly lower than in the microsuturing group (7,132 +/- 1,723 in thighs and 6,557 +/- 1,469 in legs) (P < 0.01). In the ligated group, a significant reduction of blood flow was seen in the legs when compared with the thighs (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in radioactivity when comparing the microsuturing control with the stented welding group, in both thighs (7,064 +/- 2,599 and 7,006 +/- 2,406, respectively; P > 0.05) and legs (6,386 +/- 1,703 and 6,288 +/- 1,757, respectively; P > 0.05). This study provided evidence that the dissolvable stent placed intraluminally does not impair blood circulation and that when coupled with CO2 laser welding offers a high-quality alternative to conventional small vessel anastomosis.
authors.affiliation: Center of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tang-Du Hospital, 4th Medical University, Xi'an, China. hefch@hotmail.com
authors.forename: F C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: L P
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lanzetta
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Owen
mesh_terms: D020341:Absorbable Implants; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D000818:Animals; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002860:Chromium Radioisotopes; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000473:pathology / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006614:Hindlimb / Q000098:blood supply; D017075:Laser Coagulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008026:Ligation; D008863:Microspheres; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012039:Regional Blood Flow / Q000502:physiology; D015607:Stents; D013536:Suture Techniques; D013848:Thigh / Q000098:blood supply; D014654:Vascular Patency
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D002860:Chromium Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D002245:Carbon Dioxide