Investigation of the pressure gradient of embolic protection devices

Abstract

To avoid debris coming to the cerebral vessels during carotid artery stenting, embolic protection devices (EPD) are placed in front of the lesion. To evaluate their influence on the antegrade blood flow a test setup with a silicone tube simulating the internal carotid artery is realized. The pressure gradient of five different EPD was measured while particles were brought into the circuit and were caught by the systems. Additionally the microscopic structure of the systems was observed to correlate the morphology and the pressure gradient. The FiberNet device had the lowest pressure gradient. It was the only system that consists of fibers contrary to the systems RX Accunet, Angioguard RX, FilterWireEZ and EmboshieldNAV that contain porous membranes.

Keywords

• carotid artery
• embolic protection
• pressure gradient
• stent