Open-loop suture technique was employed for microvascular anastomoses in the rat to facilitate surgery and to avoid inadvertently catching opposite side vessel walls with the needle. A moderately trained microsurgeon performed carotid and femoral arterial anastomoses, and conventional and open-loop suture techniques were compared. A 100% patency rate was obtained in the open-loop series of 280 end-to-end anastomoses, and this technique was 24 to 25% faster than conventional suturing.
An operative technique of lumbar sympathectomy in the rat is described. Two days following either sympathectomy or sham-sympathectomy, bilateral femoral arterial anastomoses were performed by a 1-year trained microsurgeon (S.A.H.) and patency was assessed by preoperative and postoperative (30 minutes, daily) operative invasive and noninvasive techniques using an electromagnetic flow meter (for immediate postoperative) and Doppler, respectively. Of 112 rats, three and one postoperative deaths occurred within 24 hours following abdominal surgery in each group, respectively. Of 105 anastomoses in the sympathectomy group, 103 (98%) and 101 (96%) had patent anastomoses 30 minutes and 14 days postoperatively, respectively, while 109 of the sham-sympathectomy group had 105 (96%) and 103 (94%) patencies at the same period of the observation, respectively. Thus the sympathectomy did not much alter the microvascular patency rate in the rat. It appears therefore that the meticulous microvascular anastomosis cannot be replaced by lumbar sympathectomy in the rat.
In 48 rats, bilateral sciatic nerves were severed and perineuriums were resutured with Dexon 10-0 sutures. Animals were sacrificed at days 7, 14, 21, and months 2, 3, and 6. The nerve segments exhibited an acute inflammatory cellular reaction to the sutures during the early period. The inflammation gradually subsided. However, the inflammatory foreign body giant cells still remained around the sutures for as long as 68 days, after which they were not present. In the additional eight rats with nylon suture anastomoses of the perineurium of the sciatic nerves, a foreign body giant cell reaction was present combined with a lymphocytic cellular infiltrate surrounding the suture for 6 months postoperatively. It is concluded that Dexon microsuture is less reactive than nylon in perineural anastomosis of severed nerve.
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