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The present protocol proposes the creation of an arteriovenous fistula in rabbits using a modified no-touch technique. The technique involves the side-to-side anastomosis of the common carotid artery and external jugular vein without the dissection of the perivenous tissues or cutting off the artery.
Juxta-anastomotic stenosis is a challenging problem that often causes non-maturation and decreases the patency of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF). Injury to the veins and arteries during the operation and hemodynamic changes can lead to intimal hyperplasia, leading to juxta-anastomotic stenosis. To reduce injury to the veins and arteries during the operation, this study proposes a new modified no-touch technique (MNTT) for AVF construction that can decrease the rate of juxta-anastomotic stenosis and improve the AVF patency. To unravel the hemodynamic changes and mechanisms of the MNTT, this study presented an AVF procedure using this technique. Although this procedure is technically challenging, 94.4% procedural success was achieved after adequate training. Ultimately, 13 out of 34 rabbits had a functional AVF 4 weeks after the surgery, leading to a 38.2% AVF patency rate. However, at 4 weeks, the survival rate was 86.1%. Ultrasonography showed active blood flow through AVF anastomosis. Furthermore, the spiral laminar flow was observed in the vein and artery near the anastomosis, suggesting that this technique may improve the hemodynamics of the AVF. On histological observation, significant venous intimal hyperplasia was observed at the AVF anastomosis, whereas no significant intimal hyperplasia was observed at the proximal external jugular vein (EJV) of the anastomosis. This technique will improve the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the use of MNTT for AVF construction and provide technical support for the further optimization of the surgical approach in AVF construction.
The construction of an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) is widely used in clinical practice for patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis (MHD), and it has higher patency and fewer complications than an arteriovenous graft (AVG) or tunneled cuffed catheter (TCC)1,2. Although AVF is the preferred mode of vascular access, it is not perfect and has inherent limitations. The 1 year primary AVF patency rates are only 60%-65%, with many failures occurring in the near anastomotic region3,4,5.
Vessels undergo different degrees of damage during the traditional surgical approach, which ultimately affects the maturation of the AVF. New surgical modalities, such as the no-touch technique (NTT) (Supplementary Figure 1) proposed by Hörer et al.6 and radial artery excursion and reimplantation (RADAR) proposed by Sadaghianloo et al.7,8 and Bai et al.9, were designed to decrease the rate of juxta-anastomotic stenosis and to improve the fistula patency by modifying the surgical technique. Although the effect of RADAR was better than that of NTT, inflow arterial stenosis was observed to be more prominent with RADAR. To further reduce injury to the veins and arteries during the operation, in 2021, a new modified no-touch technique (MNTT) was proposed to create a radio-cephalic AVF by preserving the perivenous tissue around the cephalic vein without cutting the radial artery (Supplementary Figure 1 and Supplementary Figure 2). The preliminary results showed increased primary patency, decreased juxta-anastomotic stenosis, and no arterial stenosis10,11.
Considering the current lack of animal models of AVF using MNTT, and to further explore the mechanism of MNTT in AVF surgery, this study introduces a common carotid artery (CCA)-external jugular vein (EJV) AVF procedure using MNTT.
The experimental procedures using laboratory animals were approved by the Experimental Animal Welfare Ethics Committee of Nanjing Medical University. New Zealand rabbits aged 10 months (of both sexes; body weight, 3.18 ± 0.24 kg) were used for this study. The animals were obtained from a commercial source (see Table of Materials).
1. Animal preparation
2. Skin incision
3. Preparation of the external jugular vein (EJV)
4. Dissecting and preparing the common carotid artery (CCA)
5. Preparing the anastomosis
6. Side-to-side anastomosis
7. Vascular clamp removal and ligation of the vein
8. Skin closure and postoperative care
The outcome of the successful application of this technique is a patent AVF in the rabbit neck. This study used the following criteria to evaluate the success: (1) when the vascular anastomosis is completed, the venous tremor of the AVF can be touched, and the vascular murmur can be heard; (2) 4 weeks after the AVF is established, the active blood flow through the internal fistula anastomosis can be measured by color Doppler ultrasound; (3) 4 weeks after the AVF is established, hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining shows ...
Currently, several animal models are available for AVF. Among them, pigs, sheep, and dogs are mostly used as large animal models13,14,15. The small animal models used include rabbits, rats, and mice16,17,18. New Zealand rabbits were used in this study. New Zealand rabbits have abundant perivenous tissues around the EJV, which makes them...
The authors have no potential conflicts of interest related to the drugs and materials used in this procedure.
This study was supported by grants from the Suzhou Science and Technology Plan Project (SYS2020077), Suzhou High-tech Zone Medical and Health Science and Technology Plan Project (2020z001), Suzhou Science and Technology Development Plan Project-Medical and Health Science and Technology Innovation (SYK2021030), Nanjing Medical University Science and Technology Development Fund-General Project (NMUB20210253), Suzhou Science and Technology Bureau of the application of the basic research project (No.SYSD2019205, No.SYS2020119), Jiangsu Province Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Development Plan Project (No.MS2021098), the Ministry of Education Industry-University Cooperation Collaborative Education Project (No. 202102242003), the Sixth "333 High-level Talent Cultivation" Project in Jiangsu Province, Suzhou Science and Technology City Hospital 2022 Hospital-level Pre-research Fund Project (SZKJCYY2022014), and Suzhou "KeJiaoXingWei" Youth Science and Technology Project (KJXW2022086).
Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
Animal Depilatory | Fuzhou Feijing Biotechnology Co., Ltd. | PH1877 | |
Curved hemostatic forceps | Xinhua Surgical Instrument Co., Ltd. | ZH131R/RN | |
Dissecting forceps | Xinhua Surgical Instrument Co., Ltd. | ZDO25R/RN | |
electrical razor | Shenbao Technology Co., Ltd | PGC-660 | |
Fixed Table | Zhenhua Biomedical Instrument Co., Ltd | ZH-DSB019 | |
Halsey needleholder | Xinhua Surgical Instrument Co., Ltd. | ZM208R/RN | |
Heparin Dodium Injection | Jiangsu Wanbang Biochemical Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. | H32020612 | |
Medical gauze dressing | Nanchang Kangjie medical hygiene products Co., Ltd | 20172640135 | |
Micro forceops | Xinhua Surgical Instrument Co., Ltd. | ZD275RN/T | |
Micro needle holder forceps | Xinhua Surgical Instrument Co., Ltd. | ZF2618RB/T | |
Micro scissors | Xinhua Surgical Instrument Co., Ltd. | ZF022T | |
Non-silk sutures 4-0 | Kollsut Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. | NMB020RRCN26C075-1 | |
Non-absorbable sutures 8-0 (double needle) | Yangzhou Yuankang Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. | 10299023602 | |
Povidone iodine solution | Shanghai Likang Disinfection High-tech Co., Ltd. | 310512 | |
Rinse needle | Jiangsu Tonghui Medical Instrument Co., Ltd | 20180039 | |
scalpel handle | Shanghai Medical Instrument (Group) Co., Ltd. Surgical Instruments Factory | J11030 | |
Sharp blade | Suzhou Medical Products Factory Co., Ltd. | TY21232001 | |
Sodium Chloride Injection (100 mL) | Guangdong Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. | B21K0904 | |
Sugical Scissors | Xinhua Surgical Instrument Co., Ltd. | ZC120R/RN | |
Sumianxin II | Jilin Dunhua Shengda Animal Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. | 20180801 | |
Syringe with needle(5 mL) | BD medical devices (Shanghai) Co., Ltd | 2006116 | |
Tiletamine Hydrochloride and Zolazepam Hydrochloride for Injection | Virbac Pet Health, France | 83888204 | |
Triangle needle | Hangzhou Huawei medical supplies Co., Ltd | 7X17 | |
Vascular clamp | Xinhua Surgical Instrument Co., Ltd. | ZF220RN | |
New Zealand rabbits | Suzhou Huqiao Biological Co., Ltd. | SCXK2020-0001 |
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