Angiographic Anatomy of External Iliac Arteries in the Sheep

Abstract

External iliac artery atherosclerotic disease and aneurism occur in man. For treatment, imaging is required to facilitate minimally invasive introduction and advancement of stents within the intended vessels. Sheep are commonly used to test and improve stents. However, little information is published regarding the angiographic anatomy of the iliac arteries in the ovine species. The objective of this study was to describe the angiographic anatomy of the iliac arteries in the sheep. Computed tomography (CT) angiography and gross anatomical dissection were performed in, respectively, 10 and 43 adult ewes. Diameters and lengths of the arteries were measured. In comparison with man, salient anatomical differences were identified in the sheep: (1) the absence of common iliac arteries, (2) the common trunk at the origin of internal iliac arteries and (3) the location of the bifurcation of the external iliac arteries into femoral arteries in the pelvis (not in the limb). External iliac arteries in this series of sheep were 86 mm long in average and had a mean diameter of 7.5 mm. Lengths of arteries are only slightly different between man and sheep, while diameters are rather similar. Therefore, the sheep model appears to be sufficiently similar to man to test stent properties. This study provides useful reference images and measures of lengths and diameters of relevant arteries that could be applied to research with ovine models.

Vascular supply of the femoral head in sheep—Implications for the ovine femoroacetabular impingement model

“…Both human and ovine external iliac arteries give off smaller branches supplying the ilium and abdominal musculature, before becoming the femoral and deep femoral arteries. The pattern of bifurcation of the external iliac into the femoral arteries was noted to be different between humans and sheep, and has been supported in a prior study . In humans, the external iliac artery traverses under the inguinal ligament, becoming the femoral artery, which gives two smaller superficial iliac and epigastric arteries before bifurcating into the deep femoral artery and femoral artery proper .…”

Assessment of a computed tomography guided injection technique of the lumbo-sacral disc in sheep

“…The needle never deviated more than one slice cranially or caudally, which represents a safety window of 3 mm. In the sheep, the abdominal aorta gives rise to the left external iliac artery before the mid-body of the last lumbar vertebra, and it is between the cranial aspect of the last lumbar vertebra and the lumbo-sacral disc that it gives rise to the primitive trunk for the right external iliac artery and the common trunk of the internal iliac arteries (23). Another risk with injection of the lumbosacral disc would be to penetrate those vessels.…”

Feasibility of endovascular stimulation of the femoral nerve using a stent-mounted electrode array

“…The sheep was chosen as an appropriate large animal model for the implantation of endovascular electrode arrays since their blood vessels are more similar in size to human compared with smaller animal models, and the anatomy of the femoral triangle in sheep bears some similarities to that of humans. Specifically, the diameters of the sheep external iliac artery (7-8 mm) and the femoral artery (5 mm) [37] are slightly smaller than but comparable to the diameters of the human common femoral artery (8.2-9.8 mm) [38] and superficial femoral artery (7.8 mm) [39]. analgesic, Flunixin (Ilium Flunixil, 1.1 mg kg −1 ), and antibiotic/local anesthetic mixture, procaine penicillin (Ilium Propercillin, 900 mg), were administrated at the beginning of the surgery.…”