Microvascular angioscopy.

Abstract

The desire for immediate assessment of endovascular pathology in hand and microvascular surgery has led to an investigation of the microvascular angioscope. This study evaluated three angioscopes of differing sizes and specifications to determine their ability to detect intimal lesions such as tears, crush injury, and surface clots. Studies were done in 80 Sprague-Dawley rats and in cadaveric hands. Angioscopic findings were correlated with gross and histologic inspection and found to be 100 percent accurate. We conclude that microvascular angioscopy can provide important information concerning the integrity of vessels less than 1 mm in diameter with excellent optical resolution and with minimal time expenditure.