Comparison of anastomotic suturing techniques in the rat trachea.

BACKGROUND

Tracheal resection is the preferred treatment for primary tracheal tumors. Anastomotic tension can be a problem, even when various tension-relieving release maneuvers are employed. Excessive tension can cause anastomotic sutures to pull through the tracheal tissue, with resultant early tracheal anastomotic dehiscence. To test the hypothesis that interrupted horizontal mattress sutures would withstand the forces of tension better than interrupted simple sutures, an experimental study of rat tracheal anastomoses was done.

METHODS

Twenty rats were killed and their tracheas excised. The tracheas were divided in the mid portion and end to end anastomoses were done using interrupted 7-0 polypropylene sutures. Ten tracheas had anastomoses done with interrupted simple sutures, and 10 had interrupted horizontal mattress suturing.

RESULTS

Anastomotic breaking strength was 2.30 +/- 0.57 N for the interrupted simple sutured anastomoses and 2.15 +/- 0.48 N for the interrupted horizontal mattress group (P = 0.54). The difference was not significant.

CONCLUSIONS

In this animal study, interrupted simple and horizontal mattress suturing withstood the disruptive forces of anastomotic tension equally well.