Objective: To investigate the feasibility of a rat model on hindlimb ischemia induced by embolization from the administration of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) particles or N-butyl cyanoacrylate (NBCA).
Materials and methods: Unilateral hindlimb ischemia was induced by embolization with NBCA (n = 4), PVA (n = 4) or surgical excision (n = 4) in a total of 12 Sprague-Dawley rats. On days 0, 7 and 14, the time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (TOF-MRA) and enhanced MRI were obtained as scheduled by using a 3T-MR scanner. The clinical ischemic index, volume change and degree of muscle necrosis observed on the enhanced MRI in the ischemic hindlimb were being compared among three groups using the analysis of variance. Vascular patency on TOF-MRA was evaluated and correlated with angiographic findings when using an inter-rater agreement test.
Results: There was a technical success rate of 100% for both the embolization and surgery groups. The clinical ischemic index did not significantly differ. On day 7, the ratios of the muscular infarctions were 0.436, 0.173 and 0 at thigh levels and 0.503, 0.337 and 0 at calf levels for the NBCA, PVA and surgery groups, respectively. In addition, the embolization group presented increased volume and then decreased volume on days 7 and 14, respectively. The surgery group presented a gradual volume decrease. Good correlation was shown between the TOF-MRA and angiographic findings (kappa value of 0.795).
Conclusion: The examined hindlimb ischemia model using embolization with NBCA and PVA particles in rats is a feasible model for further research, and muscle necrosis was evident as compared with the surgical model.
Keywords: Embolization; Enhanced MR; Hindlimb ischemia; TOF-MRA.