Open AccessFeasibility of a circulation model for the assessment of endovascular recanalization procedures and periprocedural thromboembolism in-vitro
Author(s) -
René Rusch,
Jens Trentmann,
Lars Hummitzsch,
Melanie Rusch,
Schekeb Aludin,
Assad Haneya,
Martín Albrecht,
Jost Philipp Schäfer,
Thomas Puehler,
Jochen Cremer,
Rouven Berndt
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
scientific reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.24
H-Index - 213
ISSN - 2045-2322
DOI - 10.1038/s41598-019-53607-2
Subject(s) - medicine , thrombus , catheter , stent , thrombosis , biomedical engineering , radiology , surgery
Aim of this study was to establish a simple and highly reproducible physiological circulation model to investigate endovascular device performance. The developed circulation model included a pneumatically driven pulsatile pump to generate a flow rate of 2.7 L/min at 70 beats per minute. Sections from the superficial femoral arteries were used in order to simulate device/tissue interaction and a filter was integrated to analyze periinterventional thromboembolism of white, red and mixed thrombi. The working fluid (3 L) was a crystalloid solution constantly tempered at 36.5 °C. To evaluate the model, aspiration thrombectomy, stent-implantation and thrombectomy with the Fogarty catheter were performed. Usability of the model was measured by the System Usability Scale (SUS) – Score. Histological specimens were prepared and analyzed postinterventional to quantify tissue/device interaction. Moreover, micro- and macroembolism were evaluated for each thrombus entity and each device. Results were tested for normality using the D’Agostino-Pearson test. Statistical comparisons of two groups were performed using the Student’s t-test. All devices were able to remove the occlusions after a maximum of 2 attempts. First-pass-recanalization was not fully achieved for aspiration thrombectomy of mixed thrombi (90.6%), aspiration thrombectomy of red thrombi (84.4%) and stent-implantation in occlusions of red thrombi (92.2%). Most micro- and macroembolism were observed using the Fogarty catheter and after stent-implantation in occlusions of white thrombi. Histological examinations revealed a significant reduction of the vascular layers suggesting vascular damage after use of the Fogarty catheter (327.3 ± 3.5 μm vs. 440.6 ± 3.9 μm; p = 0.026). Analysis of SUS rendered a mean SUS-Score of 80.4 which corresponds to an excellent user acceptability of the model. In conclusion, we describe a stable, easy to handle and reproducible physiological circulation model for the simulation of endovascular thrombectomy including device performance and thromboembolism.