Mucosal wound and cicatricial stricture formation in the dog trachea: an experimental study.

Complete healing of full-thickness tracheal mucosal wounds of different sizes was studied in three groups of dogs. No stricture was observed when the mucosal wounds were less than 20 x 15 mm. Obvious stricture, however, occurred when the wounds were 20 x 25 mm. Normal epithelium regenerated on the wounded areas in all of the three groups within seven weeks.