Needle-Catheter Aortography and Selective Angiography Technical Note
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I. Neurosurg. / Volume 32 / April, 1970 Needle-Catheter Aortography and Selective Angiography Technical Note JOSEPH T. MCFADDEN, M.D., F.A.C.S. Medical Centel, Nor]olk, Virginia LTHOUGH angiography has now be- come the foremost diagnostic method in neurosurgery for tumors and vas- cular lesions, the needle techniques evolved from Egas Moniz' original contribution (1927) :3 are too limited in scope for ade- quate study of the patient with arterial insufficiency. Furthermore, the percutaneous needle approach, while almost never failing in the cranial and partial extracranial evalu- ation of carotid arteries, cannot produce sat- isfactory total vertebrobasilar artery pictures in some patients. Only catheter angiography overcomes these limitations. The percutaneous introduction of a cath- eter into an artery for the purpose of making selective or regional angiograms distant and circuitous to the point of entry requires the Fro. 2. Upper Diagram: Arterial entry with the use of either the Seldinger 4 or the needle- assembled needle-catheter. Lower Diagram: Cathe- catheter 1,2 technique. The alternative, cath- ter in the arterial lumen, with the needle unit re- eter introduction through a cannula, makes moved. an arterial hole larger than the catheter, causing bleeding problems during and after the procedure. Seldinger's method, reported in 1953, entails a multi-step procedure em- Received for publication July 1, 1969. Revision received August 25, 1969. ploying a needle (cannula), a guide wire, and a catheter. The needle-catheter tech- nique requires one step only, the assembled instrument acting as a needle (cannula) for arterial entry, then becoming a catheter on removal of the puncturing core (Figs. 1 and 2). While the Seldinger method was devel- oped under the aegis of neuroradiology, the needle-catheter* evolved during the past 4 years for use primarily as a neurosurgical in- strument. It was introduced in 19652 (pub- lished in 1967) 1 specifically for retrograde common carotid catheterization to perform arch aortography and four-vessel cranial an- Fro. 1. Upper Diagram: Disassembled needle- giography. catheter showing imbedded metal tip with abut- ment inside the catheter lumen (A), and twin The needle-catheter has been adapted sub- mural holes equal in diameter to the catheter sequently to selective arterial catheterization lumen (B). Lower Diagram: The outer sheath of and aortography by several modifications: the double cannula puncture unit locks the tip abutment. Luer-Locks on the hub lock the can- * Manufactured by United States Catheter and nulae unit. Instrument Corporation, Glens Falls, New York. 491 492 Joseph T. McFadden Fro. 3. Diagram showing three-dimensional range of catheter tip control with the Muller Guide Fro. 4. Diagrams showing the range of tip con- system. trol in the aortic arch (one-vessel panangiog- raphy). Upper Diagram: Transcarotid route. Lower 1. The metal tip shortened to 2.5 mm al- Diagram: Transfemoral route. lows tip deflection (Fig. 1). 2. Two mural holes proximal to the metal Directed by the Muller Guide system, the tip, each equal in diameter to the cath- catheter tip curves 180% and rotates com- eter lumen, permit maximum flu!d out- pletely clockwise or vice versa, so that it flow with minimum tip retropulsion goes to any chosen point either vertically or (Fig. 1 ). horizontally (Fig. 3). Additionally, the de- 3. A metal mesh incorporated in the flected tip, on advancement, moves ahead of catheter wall prevents lumen collapse the deflection curvature, and thus progresses under torque. down the lumen of a selected vessel circui- Fro. 5. Le]t: X-ray film showing the percutaneously placed catheter descending the right carotid artery into the innominate and curving into the right subclavian (curved arrow) to demonstrate the vertebral artery by the flooding technique. The straight arrow points to the catheter tip. Center: Trans-carotid (right) arch aortogram and four-vessel angiogram. Note percutaneously placed catheter descending the carotid and innominate arteries into the ascending aorta (arrow). Right: The percutaneously placed catheter descends the right carotid and innominate arteries into the aortic arch and curves into the left subclavian artery (arrow) to visualize the vertebral artery by the flooding technique. .