Magnification angiography and histology for the evaluation of microvascular anastomosis

Magnification angiography was compared with histology in order to assess the value of each of the two techniques for the evaluation of microvascular anastomoses. At postmortem, angiography of 108 end-to-end anastomoses of the rat carotid artery (4.5 X magnification) was performed, followed by histological examination. Each method assessed the degree of stenosis or aneurysmal dilatation independently, expressing it as a percentage of lumen change compared to a noninvolved vessel segment of the same artery. Results were plotted for each carotid separately. Both methods were found to be equally useful, but were of rather low sensitivity and specificity. Each failed to diagnose roughly one-third of all stenoses and even more aneurysms. A possibility for further improvement of the results is discussed. Both methods proved to be complementary; at least one-third of the vascular changes would have been missed if only one method had been used. A combination of both techniques should therefore be used in studies of microvascular anastomoses.