Electromicroscopic observations on small vessels in animals treated with sulfinpyrazone and placebo following vascular microsurgery.

To evaluate the antithrombotic effect of sulfinpyrazone on blood vessels (1-2 mm diameter) injured by microsurgical procedures, twenty male rabbits were chosen at random to receive sulfinpyrazone (10 mg/kg/die) or placebo three days prior to and on the morning of vascular microsurgery, which consisted of a complete transverse section, or a longitudinal section 1 cm long, of the femoral artery and vein, followed by interrupted suture. Scanning electron microscopy revealed consistently less fibrin and blood cell adhesion to the endothelial areas adjacent to the surgical trauma in the animals treated with sulfinpyrazone than in those treated with placebo. Our results agree with those reported in the literature, demonstrating the antithrombotic effects of sulfinpyrazone at the level of the vascular endothelium injured by various kinds of trauma and are sufficiently encouraging to justify testing this drug in the prevention of vascular thrombosis following microsurgical procedures in man.