Impact of poor microsurgical suture technique on tissue perfusion in a rat model

✍ Scribed by Björn D. Krapohl; Bert Reichert; Hans-Günther Machens; Peter Mailänder

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 144 KB
• Volume: 23
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0738-1085
• DOI: 10.1002/micr.10097

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of poor suture technique in microsurgical small‐vessel anastomosis on tissue microcirculation. Eighteen male Sprague‐Dawley rats were divided into three groups of six animals each: sham control group, regular suture group (control), and inverting suture group. In the regular suture group, a standard single‐stitch suture technique was used for microsurgical reanastomosis of the transected common iliac artery. In the inverting suture group, a suture technique was applied inverting the vessel wall, thus simulating poor suture technique. After 24 h, intravital microcirculatory measurements were obtained in the cremaster muscle flap. The inverting suture caused a significant drop in capillary perfusion from 6.40 (sham control) and 5.65 (regular suture) to 1.81 capillaries per visual field (P < 0.005). A poor microsurgical anastomosis may result in a significant reduction of peripheral tissue perfusion, although blood flow through the main feeding vessel is maintained. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. MICROSURGERY 23:141–146 2003