The application of tissue adhesives in small bowel anastomoses.

One layer everted end-to-end anastomosis was performed on the small bowel of mongrel dogs. Cultures of Serratia marcescens were injected into the lumen. Twenty-four hours later the animals were reexplored, and peritoneal cultures were observed. In animals where Fibrin Seal (consisting of fibrinogen, cold insoluble globulin, factor XIII, platelet growth factor, antiplasmin, thrombin, and calcium chloride) was applied to the suture line, negative cultures were found except for two experiments in which dehiscence or contamination from the Serratia injection site occurred.