Passive geometric and elastic properties of human cadaver common carotid artery segments after intraluminal enzyme digestion with the aid of a four-way double balloon catheter.

: A combined intraluminal nonenzymatic-enzymatic digestion procedure was carried out in situ on the common carotid arteries of 21 human cadavers with the aid of a four-way double balloon catheter. Denaturing pretreatment with NaOH, 2.5 mol for 20 min followed by crude pancreatic extract, 20 mg/ml for 20 min were used. Mechanical properties of cylindrical segments were measured in vitro, and compared with contralateral control segments. The inner radius increased and wall thickness decreased significantly at each pressure level in the 0-200 mmHg (0-26.7 kPa) intraluminal pressure range. Volume of wall material per unit length of the segment decreased by 11.6%, cross-section of the lumen at 100 mmHg (13.3 kPa) intraluminal pressure increased by 13.6%. These results show that the internal layers of human arteries can be removed by enzyme digestion increasing the lumen, while intact (medial and adventitial) layers still can give sufficient strength to the arterial wall.