MRI and Micro-CT Evaluate the Effect of VEGF in a Rabbit Femoral Artery Chronic Total Occlusion

Xiuling Qi¹, Aaron Teitelbaum¹, Kevan Anderson¹, Nigel Munce¹, Beiping Qiang¹, Ronen Jaffe¹, Michelle Ladouceur-Wodzak¹, Bradley H. Strauss¹, Graham A. Wright¹

Synopsis: Revascularization in an arterial chronic total occlusion (CTO) could improve the prognosis. We evaluated the effect of injecting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) into a CTO in a femoral artery of rabbit using in vivo MRI and ex-vivo micro-CT. Thirteen rabbit were divided randomly into control and VEGF groups. The blood volume changes in CTO pre and post interventions were determined. Results indicated by both MRI and micro-CT that the VEGF significantly increased the formation of microvessels within CTO. Our study also demonstrated that MRI is a feasible method to assess the new blood vessel growth in CTO tissue.