Comparative determination of superficial vein distributions with latex and veinviewer system in the rat and rabbit extremites

Latex and Veinviewer System in the Rat and Rabbit Extremites The origin, course and vascularization parts of blood vessels are described in detail in books and articles about domestic mammals. On the other hand, the information about the vascularization of regions provided by studies conducted on laboratory animals like rabbits and rats is highly superficial. Considering that studies on the circulatory system in laboratory animals and models that are constructed on this topic today are much more diverse and unique, it is believed that it will be useful to comprehensively know about the anatomy of the circulatory system and the variations that may form in such studies. The purpose of this project is to compare the latex injection method that is used to determine the course of blood vessels and the veinviewer device that is utilize during intravenous interventions in human medicine to each other in determining extremity superficial vein courses in rats and rabbits and to assess the potential usability of the veinviewer device in animals. Additionally, by applying a survey about the VeinViewer device among clinician veterinarians, it was aimed to raise awareness regarding the device and its usage in the field of veterinary medicine and collect the opinions of veterinarians about this current imaging method. For this purpose, this project was designed to have three stages. At the first stage, the extremities of 15 rats and 15 New Zealand rabbits were imaged, and the findings were recorded. At the second stage, the latex injection method was applied on the same animals, and the materials were dissected, followed by the comparative analysis of the results. At the third stage, independently of the first two stages, a survey was created about the VeinViewer device and its usage and applied among 400 clinician veterinarians nationwide in Turkey. While the origin of the vena cephalica from the vena jugularis externa in rats could not be visualized with the veinviewer device, the origin of the vena cephalica from the vena jugularis externa or the musculus omotransversus from the vena brachialis at the insertion level was visualized with the veinviewer device. Additionally, in this study, it was also determined that the superficial veins of especially the hind extremities of the rats and both the front and hind extremities of the rabbits could also be imaged with the veinviewer device in parallel with the findings obtained with the latex injection method. Moreover, 5.7% of the veterinarians who responded to the survey stated that they used the veinviewer device. Consequently, it is thought that data obtained with the latex injection method will provide up-to-date information for the literature on rat and rabbit extremity superficial vein courses. Considering that the veinviewer device is preferred in humans to make veins visible especially during peripheral intravenous catheter interventions, it is believed that the device may be used as an alternative method in imaging superficial veins in animals.