A novel bronchial artery catheterization technique with preserved blood flow in an ovine model

The authors devised a novel bronchial artery catheterization technique to deliver agents directly into bronchial circulation with preserved blood flow in an awake ovine model. A polyurethane catheter was inserted into bronchial artery via an incision into the 4th intercostal space. Regional blood flow of the airway was measured by fluorescent microspheres before cannulation, after cannulation, and 7 days after the operative procedure. The blood flows were also measured in a sham group (no cannulation, no ligation, n = 6), cannulation group (bronchial artery cannulation, n = 5), and ligation group (bronchial artery ligation, n = 5) at baseline and 6 hours after burn and smoke inhalation injury. The regional blood flows decreased slightly after cannulation in proximal bronchi, but recovered after 7 days. The regional blood flow increased 10-fold after inhalation injury in bronchi of the sham group. Bronchial artery ligation significantly attenuated the increase of blood flow. However, cannulation preserved regional blood flow and did not prevent the blood flow increases after burn and smoke inhalation injury, thus constituting a novel bronchial artery catheterization technique.