The increasing use of chemotherapy in association with surgery has prompted the suggestion that cancer chemotherapeutic drugs may interfere with the healing process. To test this hypothesis 30 Wistar rats were subjected to laparotomy and colonic resection and treated with 5-Fluorouracil or Mitomycin C. The bursting strength of the abdominal scars and the colonic anastomotic bursting pressure revealed some interference in the rats treated with 5-Fluorouracil (Student's t test P < 0.05) but none in the case of Mitomycin C. This preliminary study deserves to be followed up.
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