Intravascular microcatheter pressure monitoring: experimental results and early clinical evaluation

With the use of Tracker and Balt microcatheter systems, intravascular pressure measurements were obtained in an experimental animal model, establishing the reliability of mean blood pressure measurements from these microcatheter systems. In the experimental model, selective occlusion of branches of the external carotid artery with simultaneous pressure measurements showed significant and reproducible changes in intravascular pressures. Also, pharmacologic manipulation of the blood pressure with simultaneous microcatheter and 6-French catheter recordings demonstrated an accurate and linear response of the microcatheter systems to mean blood pressure as it varied from 30 to 130 mm Hg. Preliminary results in humans with vascular malformations yielded similar results. We studied two cases of brain arteriovenous malformations (AVMs), one sigmoid-transverse sinus dural AVM, and one brain arteriovenous fistula (AVF). In these four cases the pressure dropped substantially, approaching the level of the shunt. In the case of the brain AVF, pressures rose in the same vessel after embolization. In the case of the dural AVM, correlation of the venous pouch pressures and the angiographic appearance indicated that shunting was no longer present when the venous and arterial pressures equalized. This system can be of substantial benefit in the evaluation and therapy of these lesions, and may increase our understanding of the physiology of vascular malformations.