Bilateral angio‐radiography of volumetric organs and structures

Abstract

There are many techniques for studying the vascular bed in anatomy, but angiocardiography is one of the most informative. Bright and clear X‐ray images allow researchers to trace the course and branching of the vessels of the studied area and carry out their morphometry. When examining the vascular bed of voluminous organs and structures, it is difficult to “read” angio‐roentgenograms. This is due to paired vessels of the same name and large vascular collectors, the radiographic shadows of which can overlap. Given the above, we have revealed the applied methods of bilateral angiography of volumetric organs and structures. When carrying out angiocardiography, we used a mass for injections prepared according to the recipe as a radio‐opaque mass: 45% ‐ lead white, 45% ‐ gum turpentine, 10% ‐ medical gypsum powder (M.V. Shchipakina, A.V. Prusakova, D. S. Bylinskaya, S. A. Kuga, 2013). The object of the study was the vascular bed of the head of animals. Before injecting the radiopaque mass, the cadaver material was prepared as follows: the head was separated from the body at the level of the sixth cervical vertebra and heated in a water bath (temperature 45°C, time 5 hours). For the injection of the head vessels, access was made through the common carotid arteries. After their catheterization, the large arteries of the neck were ligated. Also, the spinal canal was tamponed. The infusion of a radiopaque mass was performed alternately into each of the common carotid arteries. The quality of the infusion was assessed by the degree of filling of the arteries of the oral mucosa and conjunctiva. When filling small vessels with a white mass, the infusion was considered sufficient. Then the objects of study were placed in a chamber with a temperature regime of 0°C for two days to coagulate the X‐ray contrast mass. One of the important stages of the method of bilateral angiography of volumetric structures, the preparation stage, was started. The whole point of this stage is the sequential division in the median plane of the object under study. So, initially, the skin of the dorsal surface of the head and neck was dissected. The tissues were divided along the internasal and frontal sutures along the median line of the occipital bone. At the same time, the nasal cavity and the brain were divided in the median plane, reaching the base of the skull. In the neck area, muscles, vertebral arches, spinal cord, and vertebral bodies were dissected. Only the ventral muscles of the neck were left, not dissected. In the median plane, the hard and soft palate and the skull base bones were dissected. The lower jaws were divided by fusion, while the tongue and organs of the intermandibular space were left unchanged. During X‐ray examination, the two halves of the head were spread apart, pressing the cut point to the surface. Thus, when using our technique of infusion and preparation, it is possible to perform angiography of volumetric organs and structures without imposing “shadows” of symmetric vessels of the same name and their bilateral visualization.