Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion by an Intraluminal Suture Method

Stroke represents the most common fatal neurological disease especially in highly developed countries. Even today, treatment options are very limited. The development of new therapeutic approaches replies, to a great extent, on experimental rodent models of focal cerebral ischemia. Since ~80% of ischemic strokes occur in the area of middle cerebral artery (MCA), a number of these stroke models are based on this artery. The intraluminal monofilament model of MCA occlusion involves the insertion of a surgical filament inside the external carotid artery and its extension into the internal carotid artery until the tip occludes the source of the MCA-thus arresting blood flow with resultant infarction in the MCA area. This technique can be utilized to model both permanent and transient occlusions. A major advantage of this technique is that it does not require craniectomy, which may affect intracranial pressure and temperature. Although the restored blood flow is unlike the pathophysiology of spontaneous human stroke, it more closely mimics the therapeutic state of mechanical thrombectomy which is increasingly being applied to patients with stroke.