Abstract
The object of this study was to ascertain how healing progressed in anterior gastroenterostomy wounds in dogs when the techniques of suturing employed were similar to those commonly used. The duodenum was sutured to the anterior stomach wall in 50 dogs. The animals were sacrificed by chloroform inhalation after 6, 9, 14, 20, and 27 days. The stomach and duodenum were removed at once and fixed immediately in 10% formalin and were not again disturbed until fixation was complete.
Blocks were taken from the mid-portion of the anterior and posterior aspects of the gastroenterostomy ostium by razor section. Paraffine sections, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, showed in cross section the entire anastomotic zone with the adjacent stomach and intestine. Observations were made on the gross specimens as to amount of infolding at the site of anastomosis as well as size of the ostium. Suture materials were 00 plain catgut and 0 black silk. Five different suture methods were employed in performing the anastomoses for which no gastro-intestinal clamps were used.
We observed distinct variations in wound healing depending upon the suture method used. The outstanding observation of this study, however, was the occurrence of mucosal inclusions in the line of anastomosis as shown in Fig. 1 at d.
The mucosa in these inclusions is composed of tubular glands and interglantlular stroma. The epithelial lining is columnar with coarsely granular basal nuclei. Many of the cells are distended with mucous droplets and mitoses are common. In brief, it has the appearance of viable intestinal mucosa. Serial sections, in so far as they have been studied, have shown no communication between the glandular inclusions and the gastro-intestinal lumen.
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