Comparison of different lasers in terms of thrombogenicity of the laser-treated vascular wall.

The thrombogenic properties of the laser-treated vascular wall are reported as quantitatively assessed on the basis of 33 experiments with peripheral canine vessel segments. Three types of surfaces, namely, 1) intact, 2) mechanically de-endothelized, and 3) postlaser, have been simultaneously exposed to platelet-enriched plasma in a sequentially organized artificial circulation system. Then the adherent platelets have been counted on the treated surfaces, and the relative thrombogenicity index has been calculated according to the equation T = (A1 - Aint)/(Ad - Aint), where Aint, Ad, A1 = the adherent platelet counts on intact, mechanically de-endothelized, and laser-treated surfaces, respectively. The following lasers have been evaluated: 1) Nd-YAG, 1,060 nm, continuous wave, 4W; 2) argon-ion, 480 and 514 nm and argon-ion, 350 nm, continuous-wave, 1 W and 400 mW [corrected], respectively; 3) excimer XeCl, 308 nm, pulsed, 30 mJ per pulse, repetition rate 10 Hz [corrected]; and also 4) the laser-heated metal probe (2 mm diameter, Trimedyne, Nd-YAG) 1,060 nm, 8 W. The thrombogenicity index values obtained were 83 +/- 7, 72 +/- 8, 57 +/- 9, 63 +/- 7, and 82 +/- 9%, respectively. The differences between these values were statistically insignificant. The data are suggestive of the essential requirement of, at least, anticoagulant therapy after laser angioplasty irrespective of the laser type.

Certain characteristics of myocardial contractility of isovolumic dog heart at randomly variable heart rhythm.

The relationship "heart rate - left ventricular pressure" was investigated in the isolated canine heart perfused with constant pressure at different preloads. Rhythmical stimulation was performed with constant stimulus interval duration and with stimulus intervals randomly changed near the average value (150-200 stimuli in series). Correlation and dispersion function analysis show that rhythm dispersion had a negative inotropic effect which was independent of the preload of the ventricle in the range of 120-180 beat/min, but this dependence occurred with low rats of stimulation. This method is proposed for the assessment of contractility under conditions of heart rate variations (physiological and pathological arrhythmias).