Advanced

AJNR - American Journal of Neuroradiology

Publication Preview: Published November 11, 2008

American Journal of Neuroradiology 2009;30:91.

This Article Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: ajnr.A1369v1 30/1/91    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lewis, D.A. Articles by Kallmes, D.F. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lewis, D.A. Articles by Kallmes, D.F.

American Journal of Neuroradiology
DOI 10.3174/ajnr.A1369

INTERVENTIONAL

Morbidity and Mortality Associated with Creation of Elastase-Induced Saccular Aneurysms in a Rabbit Model

D.A. Lewis, Y.H. Ding, D. Dai, R. Kadirvel, M.A. Danielson, H.J. Cloft and D.F. Kallmes

From the Neuroradiology Research Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

Please address correspondence to Debra A. Lewis, PhD, Mayo Clinic, 200 First St SW, Rochester, MN 55905; e-mail: lewis.debra{at}mayo.edu

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Elastase-induced aneurysms in rabbits have been proposed as a useful preclinical tool for device development. The object of this study was to report rates of morbidity and mortality associated with the creation and embolization of elastase-induced rabbit aneurysms and to assess the impact of operator experience on these rates.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Elastase-induced model aneurysms were created in New Zealand white rabbits (n = 700). One neuroradiologist/investigator, naive to the aneurysm-creation procedure at the outset of the experiments, performed all surgeries. All morbidity and deaths related to aneurysm creation (n = 700) and embolization procedures (n = 529) were categorized into acute and chronic deaths. Data were analyzed with single-regression analysis and analysis of variance. To assess the impact of increasing operator experience, we broke the number of animals into 50-animal increments.

RESULTS: There were 121 (17%) deaths among 700 subjects. Among 700 aneurysm-creation procedures, 59 deaths (8.4%) were noted. Among 529 aneurysm-embolization procedures, 43 deaths (8.1%) were noted. Nineteen additional deaths (2.7% of 700 subjects) were unrelated to the procedures. Simple regression-indicated mortality associated with procedures diminished with increasing operator experience (R² = 0.38, P = .0180), and that for each 50-rabbit increment mortality was reduced, on average, by 0.6%.

CONCLUSIONS: Mortality rates of approximately 8% are associated with both experimental aneurysm creation and with embolization in the rabbit elastase-induced aneurysm model. Increasing operator experience is inversely correlated with mortality, and the age of the rabbit is positively associated with morbidity.