ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the feasibility of artificial silastic framework(SF)in repair of large area of tracheal wall defects.Methods Twenty healthy adult dogs with tracheal defects for 2.5 cm?6.0 cm-3.0 cm?6.0cm were randomly and equally divided into experimental group(repaired with SF combined with sternohyoid fasciae)and control group(repaired with T-silastie tubule combined with sternohyoid fascial flap).After the operation,the animals were sacrificed at the 4th,8th,16th,24th, and 48th weeks respectively for harvesting the tracheae that were used for tracbeoscopically observing in- flammatory reaction of the repaired defect area and light microscopically observing epithelium healing on the repaired defect area.Results In the experiment group,the repaired trachea was smooth,without proliferation of granulation;and at the 8th week,the repaired defect area was covered with epithelial cells,with good functional recovery of respiration,phonation and deglutition.In the control group,there was obvious proliferation of granulation on the tracheal surface near anterior and posterior ends of T-silas tic tubule.The animals were under asphyxia to die with extraction of T-silastic tubule.Conclusions SF has excellent tracheal skeletal function.In the meantime,SF combined with sternohyoid fasciae is a simple but effective method for repair of large area of tracheal wall defects.