Vascular stenting in normal and atherosclerotic rabbits: Studies of the intravascular endoprosthesis of titanium-nickel-alloy

Abstract

Percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty would be more effective if the rate of recurrent stenosis were reduced. To evaluate the prevention of restenosis after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, intravascular endoprosthetic stents of titanium-nickel-alloy were implanted transluminally in seven normal and 21 atherosclerotic rabbits. In normal rabbits, a 3.5-mm diameter stent was implanted in the aorta and a 2.5-mm diameter stent in the right iliac artery, which were followed with serial angiograms from 6 weeks (n=7) to 8 months (n=4). There was a mean stenosis of 13.1% in the 2.5-mm and 13.6% in the 3.5-mm stent. There was no significant narrowing compared with the adjacent control segments of artery; histopathology showed a thin, fibrous neointima with smooth muscle cells. Each atherosclerotic rabbit was balloon dilated at two separate stenotic sites; each site was 2.0 cm in length. The aortic site (with 28.8±13.8% mean stenosis [±SD]) was dilated with a 3.5-mm balloon, and the iliac site (with 36.5±14.2% stenosis) was dilated with a 2.5-mm balloon. In each site, an intravascular stent of corresponding diameter and 7-mm length was implanted in one half of the dilated segment, assigned randomly, and the other half served as the angioplasty control. Angiographically observed restenosis rates and the corresponding histopathology were similar in the atherosclerotic segments that had angioplasty alone versus the atherosclerotic segments that had angioplasty plus stenting. The mean neointimal thickness in the aortas and iliac arteries, respectively, measured 247±181 μm (±SD) and 218±77 μm after 6 weeks (n=8) versus 321±168 and 308±189 μm after 20 weeks (n=5, p=NS). At 20 weeks follow-up, there was 29.1±29.8% (median, 16.4%) stenosis in the aortic stent versus 38.9±24.1% (median, 34.0%) stenosis in the percutaneous transluminal angioplasty control segment of aorta (n=5, p=NS) and 81.4±25.5% stenosis in the iliac artery stent versus 89.3±15.3% stenosis in the PTA control segment of the right iliac artery (n=5, p=NS). Comparing stenotic arterial segments treated with angioplasty alone with angioplasty plus intravascular stenting in the atherosclerotic rabbits showed that there was no significant difference in either the histopathologic changes or the restenosis rates.