Embolic protection devices were developed to reduce the risk of stroke during carotid artery stenting. The aim of this study was to test the capture efficiency of five embolic protection devices under reproducible in vitro conditions. The setup consisted of silicone tubes representing the vessel modeling round and oval cross sections. Spherical polystyrene particles (150 μm, COOH-coating) were used to simulate the plaque. The particles were inserted in a clean water circuit and either captured by the device or collected in a glass filter. The missed particles were counted by laser obscuration as a measure of device leakage. The systems Angioguard RX, RX Accunet, FiberNet, FilterWire EZ and EmboshieldNAV were analyzed. At the round cross section, FilterWire EZ demonstrated the highest capture efficiency (0% of missed particles) and RX Accunet the lowest, at 34%. The amount of leaked particles increased to 22% for FilterWire EZ and 89% for Angioguard RX during the test with the oval cross profile.
Keywords: carotid artery; cerebral protection; embolic protection; particle recovery; stent.