Feasibility of a porcine arteriovenous shunt model for assessment of acute thrombogenicity in bifurcation stenting technique by optical coherence tomography.

BACKGROUND: Double kissing (DK) crush stenting has been reported as a superior bifurcation stenting strategy compared to culotte stenting. However, the mechanism associated with the reduction of clinical events by DK crush stenting remains unclear. We therefore investigated the thrombogenicity of DK crush stenting and culotte stenting with both bare-metal stents (BMS) and drug-eluting stents (DES) and the feasibility of a novel porcine arteriovenous shunt model.

METHODS: High-resolution intracoronary imaging with optical coherence tomography (OCT) evaluated the bifurcation stenting models for thrombogenicity.

RESULTS: All porcine models retained continuous circulation without blood leakage. Thrombus was macroscopically demonstrated around the bifurcation in all settings. The volume of thrombus (mm3 ) with BMS using DK crush/culotte and DES using DK crush/culotte were 1.38/1.19 and 0.09/0.15, respectively. Culotte stenting had more thrombus in the proximal main branch, and DK crush stenting had more at the bifurcation. Unlike DK crush stenting, culotte stenting showed malapposition in the proximal main branch and bifurcation segments.

CONCLUSION: The feasibility of a porcine arteriovenous shunt model to assess thrombogenicity by OCT in bifurcation stenting technique was confirmed. OCT detected less thrombogenicity in DES when used in the bifurcation model when compared to BMS.