Histologic comparison of vibrating guidewire with conventional guidewire technique in an experimental coronary in...

To compare the damage caused by vibrating guidewire manipulation and conventional guidewire manipulation of soft coronary wires in normal sheep coronary arteries.

Using an intact sheep model the two methods of passing a coronary guidewire down a normal coronary artery under fluoroscopic screening control were studied. The resulting arterial damage caused by the two techniques was studied histologically. The severity of damage was scored from 1 (no damage) to 4 (severe damage) and expressed as: (a) percentage of damaged sections, (b) mean damage score per section and (c) percentage of sections suffering the most severe degree of damage (scores 3 and 4).

One hundred and sixty-eight sections were studied. The percentage of damaged sections was lower in the vibrating guidewire group (p = 0.004). The mean damage score and the percentage of sections with a damage score of 3 or 4 were smaller in the vibrating guidewire group than in the conventional guidewire manipulation group (p = 0.001 and p = 0.009, respectively).

Both methods of guidewire manipulation cause identifiable vascular damage. The extent and severity of damage appear greater when the guidewire is manipulated manually.