The investigation of vasospasm effect of hemostatic matrix used in intracranial operations on cerebral arteries

Purpose : The aim of this study is to investigate the vasospasm effect of the thrombin-containing hemostatic matrix on the rat basilar artery. Materials and Methods: A total of 28 female Wistar Albino rats are used in the study. The rats are randomized into four groups. The rats in Group I (Control Group) are sacrificed without any surgical manipulation. 0,1 ml of nonheparinize autologous arterial blood is injected into cisterna magna of the rats in Group II, and 0.1 ml of heamostatic matrix is injected into cisterna magna of the rats in Group III, and 0.1 ml mixture of the nonheparinize autologous arterial blood and the heamostatic matrix are injected into cisterna magna of the rats in Group IV. The rats in the Group II, Group III and Group IV are sacrified 48 hours after surgical procedures. Three sections are obtained from each rat?s arteries and photographed under light microscope. Basilar artery cross-section areas are measured using computerized image-analyse systems. For group comparisons, analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc Tukey test is performed. Differences are considered to be significant at p<0.05. Results: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post-hoc Tukey test was performed between four groups. Mean basilar artery cross-section areas of all groups revealed statistically significant difference between only group I and group II (p <0.05). It has been observed that the mean basilar artery cross-section area of Groups II, III and IV have decreased 36%, 19% and 22% respectively as compared to that of Group I (control group). Conclusion: Although the results pertaining to hemostatic matrix containing trombin is not statistically significant difference; it has been set forth that it has a vasospasmic effect on rat basilar artery. It is, therefore, important to remember that when used in cranial surgery, it can have a vasospasmic effect on cerebral arteries due to the trombin contained within the hemostatic matrix.