Rami Tzafriri, PhD. “Evaluation of splenic artery denervation: rationale, feasibility, and early pre-clinical experience.”
Summary: The spleen plays an important role in the immune response to inflammatory conditions including cancer, myocardial infarction and atherosclerosis. Device-based neuromodulation of the spleen’s neural pathways is an emerging therapeutic approach to regulating the immune response in various inflammatory diseases. We evaluated splenic artery anatomy, nerve distribution, and splenic norepinephrine (NEPI) levels before and after catheter based splenic denervation (SDN) in pigs. The data show that:
- The majority of peri-splenic arterial nerves are within close proximity of the lumen and are primarily sympathetic efferent fibers
- SDN appears safe and effective at reducing splenic NEPI levels
Presented at EuroPCR 2019, May 21-24, 2019, Paris, France.