Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Original research
Histological examination of vascular damage caused by stent retriever thrombectomy devices
  1. Daisuke Arai,
  2. Akira Ishii,
  3. Hideo Chihara,
  4. Hiroyuki Ikeda,
  5. Susumu Miyamoto
  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
  1. Correspondence to Dr D Arai, Department of Neurosurgery, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Shogoin Kawahara-cho Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan; adaisuke1981{at}gmail.com, adaisuke{at}kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp

Abstract

Background and objectives Although the recently marketed stent retriever thrombectomy devices have demonstrated a high recanalization rate and favorable clinical outcomes, there is a concern about the risks of intimal injuries when pulling out the stent in the unfolded position. In this study, the Solitaire Flow Restoration System and the Trevo retriever were used in a histopathological comparison of vascular injuries caused by stent retriever thrombectomy devices.

Methods Rabbit carotid arteries were used in the experiments with stent retriever thrombectomy devices. Carotid artery samples were harvested either 1 or 2 weeks postoperatively for histological examination.

Results Histological changes caused by the use of stent retriever thrombectomy devices were observed from the intimal to medial layers. With the Solitaire FR 4 mm, intimal and medial thickening was observed 1 week postoperatively, and progression of intimal thickening was observed 2 weeks postoperatively. The extent of intimal thickening tended to be greater with the Solitaire FR 6 mm than with the Solitaire FR 4 mm, but this difference was not significant. Compared with the Solitaire FR 4 mm, the Trevo had a significantly smaller area of intimal thickening.

Conclusions Although there are some differences among devices, results from this study indicate that stent retriever thrombectomy devices induce vascular damage that extends to the medial layer.

  • Intervention
  • Stroke
  • Thrombectomy

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.