Method for experimental constriction of arteries with polyvinyl alcohol sponge.

MANY experimental procedures for local reduction of an arterial lumen have been described. The purposes of experimental arterial stenosis have, in the past, included attempts to develop methods for gradual occlusion of diseased vessels, study of the effects of ischemia on various organs, especially the kidney, and simulation of coarctation of the aorta, as well as study of the effects of stenosis on the structure of the arterial wall. Methods that have been used to produce arterial stenosis may be divided into 2 broad groups: those in which the lumen of the artery is gradually decreased over a period of time, and those in which the arterial lumen is narrowed abruptly. The former group includes placement of irritant substances, such as cellophane, or polyethylene with dicetyl phosphate," about an artery to cause an inflammatory and proliferative reaction that gradually obliterates the lumen. Ameroid, a casein plastic that produces a similar response in the tissues, swells in water to produce mechanical occlusion as well. These means do not permit selection of an end-point short of complete occlusion of the artery. Gradual stenosis of predetermined severity has been accomplished by placing a silk ligature about an artery in a young animal. If the animal does not succumb to hemorrhage from an eroded vessel,