Hemodynamic and clinicopathologic verification of a stroke model in the dog

Twenty-five mongrel dogs had intracranial internal carotid and proximal middle cerebral artery occlusions. The animals were followed for one week and subsequently sacrificed. This method of clipping produced a mean drop in cortical cerebral blood flow of 48.4% as measured by the 85Kr washout technique. Cerebral blood flow was not affected by the brain retraction necessary for clip placements. Mortality in the first week was 16% and neurological deficits were observed in 73% of the animals. Infarction was present in 80% of the animals, and the mean percent infarction of the affected hemisphere was 17.00 +/0 3.98SE. This is a useful stroke model in an animal which is easily available, inexpensive, and suitable for microvascular intracranial surgery research.