Evaluation of the effect of pharmacologic agents on crush-avulsion arterial injuries: a scanning electron microscopy study.

This study was designed to investigate the short-term formation and composition of thrombus occurring at sites of arterial intimal injury in rabbits. Anti-coagulants, platelet anti-aggregation agents, and fibrinolytic agents were evaluated for their influence upon the developing thrombus, utilizing scanning electron microscopy to determine thrombus surface composition. These agents included: heparin, aspirin, dextran 40, streptokinase, and prostacyclin. The results are consistent with the known nature of each of these agents. When two agents were given simultaneously, each acting on different aspects of thrombogenesis (platelets vs. fibrin), the outcome appeared synergistic, with substantial reduction in thrombus accumulation; clear inhibition of both platelet aggregation and fibrin polymerization was noted. These findings support the clinical use of two agents used simultaneously, one inhibiting fibrin strand formation and the other inhibiting platelet adherence aggregation, for the prevention of micro-arterial thrombosis.