Intestinal intubation in the unanaesthetised miniature pig: technique for sampling and measurement of gut length per fistulam.

Techniques have been developed and are described for the surgical preparation of long-term jejunal and ileal fistulas in miniature swine and for the management and restraint of the fistulated swine for laboratory investigation. An apparatus and procedure is described for per fistulam intubation which allows sampling of intestinal contents at any site in the jejuno-ileum of the unanaesthetised pig. A comparison between in vivo intestinal length, measured by intubation between jejunal and ileal fistulas, and post mortem intestinal length demonstrates that, as in the human, the intestine becomes remarkably elongated after death.