Characterization of a rodent model for the study of arterial microanastomoses with size discrepancy (small-to-large)

Microsurgical autotransplantation of tissues is employed clinically to reconstruct defects following burns, trauma and surgical cancer ablation, and to correct congenital abnormalities. Transplant vessels of <3 mm are anastomosed by hand under the microscope. Experimentally, anastomotic patency rates decrease with increasing vessel diameter mismatch, and clinically, ratios of 3:1 or greater lead to unacceptably low arterial patency rates. A number of surgical techniques for dealing with size mismatch are described, but no one method has found favour, and few controlled studies of technique are reported. In this report, a rodent superficial caudal epigastric artery (SCEA)/femoral artery (FA) model for the study of these techniques is described in detail. The diameter ratio between these vessels lies in the clinically relevant range of 1:1.5-1:2.5. In the male Wistar rat, external vessel diameters were not found to increase markedly in size between animal weights of 300 and 500 g. The length of FA distal to the origin of the SCEA, which is important in allowing undisturbed distal run-off, was found to be negatively associated with animal body weight, implying that a smaller animal would be better for this model. Mean femoral arterial flow rate, measured by transit-time ultrasound, was noted to be statistically and physiologically significantly higher in the right artery when compared with the left. This model has advantages over interposition vein graft models in that it minimizes vessel compliance mismatch, and avoids the need for a second anastomosis.