Subarachnoid hemorrhage resulting from intracranial aneurysm (IA) rupture can effectively be controlled by either endovascular or microsurgical occlusion techniques1,2,3,4. Different endovascular therapies, to overcome the main limitation of IA recurrence after coiling, gained importance over the past decades generating an increased need of testing endovascular devices. To test these novel treatment approaches, appropriate animal models that respect rheological properties, hemodynamics and aneurysm wall conditions are highly warranted5,6,7. In this context, clinical as well as preclinical studies have already revealed the important role of aneurysm wall conditions regarding aneurysm rupture and recurrence after occlusion, especially focusing on the loss of mural cells7,8,9.
So far, experimental aneurysms in rabbits have most often been created either by elastase incubated common carotid artery (CCA) stumps or venous pouches sutured into an artificial CCA bifurcation.10,11,12,13,14,15,16 Thus, a true arterial pouch bifurcation model has never been described.
The aim of this study was to design a safe, fast, and standardized technique for microsurgical creation of bifurcation aneurysms with different wall conditions in a rabbit model (Figure 1). This was achieved by suturing non-modified and modified arterial pouches into an artificial created bifurcation of both CCAs.