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Manual Carotid Compression is a Viable Alternative for Reduction of Cerebral Microemboli

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Abstract

Background

Stroke is a devastating complication of cardiovascular surgeries, and the risk is particularly high for those requiring cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Embolic particles generated during the unclamping of the aortic cross-clamp may enter the cerebral circulation, lodging in small vessels. External manual compression of the carotid arteries is a non-invasive technique that has been proposed for cerebral protection during CPB procedures but is not widely deployed.

Methods

The aim of this study is to assess the potential for cerebral emboli reduction with carotid compression using an in vitro model. Experiments were performed with a glass aortic arch model in a mock cardiovascular circuit. Small fluorescent particles were released into the circulation with and without carotid compression, and the particles visualized in the aortic midplane. The number of particles in the aorta and arch branch vessels were counted from the images before, during and following the release of carotid compression for durations of 10, 15 and 20 s. A gamma variate function was fit to the data to describe the bolus dynamics.

Results

Carotid compression for 10 s reduces the number of embolic articles entering the carotid arteries by over 75%. A compression duration of 15–20 s does not result in greater particle reduction than one of 10 s.

Conclusion

Brief compression of the common carotid arteries during cardiovascular interventions has the potential to dramatically reduce the number of cerebral emboli and should be investigated further.

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Acknowledgments

The work was performed in the Cardiovascular Bioengineering Laboratory at San Diego State University with internal funding sources. There are no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bioengineering Program, College of Engineering, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Dr., San Diego, CA, 92182-1323, USA

    Paul Isingoma, Juyeun Moon & Karen May-Newman

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  1. Paul Isingoma
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  2. Juyeun Moon
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Correspondence to Karen May-Newman.

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Associate Editor Amy L. Throckmorton oversaw the review of this article.

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Isingoma, P., Moon, J. & May-Newman, K. Manual Carotid Compression is a Viable Alternative for Reduction of Cerebral Microemboli. Cardiovasc Eng Tech 12, 353–360 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13239-021-00528-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13239-021-00528-9

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