Experimental spinal cord angiography

Abstract

The clinical value of selective spinal cord angiography in the management of arteriovenous malformations and tumours of the spinal cord is well established. It is obvious, however, that two conditions must be met if this method is to become a more frequently used diagnostic procedure. The technique needs to be simplified, and its clinical indications must be expanded to include the common and important obstructive vascular disease. To attain the two above-mentioned goals, we have been carrying our experimental spinal cord angiography in 82 rhesus monkeys. Successful demonstration of the spinal cord vessels has been obtained with both techniques tested: Vasopressor potentiation and abdominal compression aortography. In vivo angiographic and “post-mortem” microangiographic studies have also been carried out after surgical occlusion of the major thoracolumbar spinal cord arteries. Particular emphasis has been placed upon the recognition of collateral circulation patterns. Effects of the surgically altered vascularisation of the spinal cord have also been investigated with fluorescent tracers studies. A low rate of complications has been observed in our angiographic experiments. The increasingly vast and varied areas of application in man of spinal cord arteriography, and the possibility of extending to clinical material the experience gained in monkeys are discussed.