Carotid Artery and Jugular Vein Interposition: A Technique to Induce Venous Intimal Hyperplasia in Rabbit Model

Under extreme vascular damage, the length of an injured vessel may become inadequate for end-to-end ligation. To repair this damage, a vascular graft may be introduced. However, graft injury during the surgical process may trigger vascular cell accumulation within the intima or the innermost luminal layer, resulting in a condition known as intimal hyperplasia.

To generate an intimal hyperplasia research model, begin with a rabbit whose carotid artery is surgically exposed. Clamp the proximal and distal ends of the artery to obstruct the blood flow. Next, dissect the artery in the middle. The carotid artery tends to shrink, contracting its orifice.

Inject saline to dilate the arterial orifice and enable subsequent graft ligation.

Now, introduce a jugular vein graft with the endothelial layer exfoliated to expose the intima. Then, insert a catheter into the graft to induce a vascular wall injury. Remove the catheter and suture the graft end-to-end with the arterial segments. Finally, remove the clamps to observe pulsation in the vessel, indicating successful graft ligation.

To initiate intimal hyperplasia, suture the carotid artery at a branch point. This causes accumulation of smooth muscle cells, and other blood cells into the intima causing it to thicken. Progressive thickening of the intima, leads to narrowing of the graft lumen, causing the vascular graft to fail.