SAFETY OF CORONARY ULTRASOUND ANGIOPLASTY - EFFECTS OF SONICATION ON INTACT CANINE CORONARY-ARTERIES

The purpose of this work was to examine in vivo the safety of sonicati on in the coronary arteries in a live animal model. In intact dogs (n = 8), balloon dilatation was performed on the proximal left anterior d escending artery (LAD) followed by sonication to the left circumflex a rtery (LCX) in power levels found to be optimal for thrombus ablation. Post-dilatation and post-ultrasound coronary angiography, echocardiog raphy, histopathology, CK-MB, indices of hemolysis, and coagulation we re compared. Sonication did not induce changes in the ECG or blood pre ssure. Coronary angiography revealed no adverse side effects or change in arterial diameter (2.3 +/- 0.7 vs. 2.4 +/- 0.3 mm). Echocardiograp hy showed transient opacification of the myocardium. Histopathology re vealed a comparable minimal degree of endothelial denudation. After so nication there were no changes in the level of CK-MB (312 +/- 168 vs. 283 +/- 207 IU), hemoglobin (11.3 +/- 0.9 vs. 12.7 +/- 1.1 gr%), hapto globin (479 +/- 136 vs. 451 +/- 121 mg/dL), fibrinogen (142 +/- 18 vs, 165 +/- 28 mg%), partial thromboplastin time (17.3 +/- 3.2 vs. 17.6 /- 3.4 sec), prothrombin time (13.3 +/- 7.8 vs. 11.5 +/- 2.9 sec), and degree of platelet aggregation (55 +/- 17 vs. 62 +/- 8%), Thus, the d ata suggest that transluminal coronary sonication exerts no overt adve rse effects invivo. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.