Résumé
Objective To observe early histopathological changes in explosive wounds at canine limbs after seawater inmersion.Methods Forty adult dogs,weighing 10 to 15 kg each,were assigned into 2 equal groups.The left hind limb of each dog in both groups was injured by a man-made explosion.The explosive wound was first washed by normal sodium.The 20 injured limbs in the experimental group (EG)were immersed in seawater for one hour while those in the control group (CG) were only exposed naturally for one hour without seawater immersion.All the wounds were covered with sterile dressing without suture.The pus and soft tissue at the wound were taken for pathological examination,bacterial culture and drug sensitivity test on day 3.The time of wound healing was recorded.Tissue sections were taken from the wounds for pathological examination at 4 and 8 weeks.Results Fifteen wounds (75％) were infected in the EG,significantly more than the 8 wounds infected (40％) in the CG( P ＜ 0.05).The wounds healed in a mean time of 38.4 days in the EG,significantly longer than the mean time for wound healing (23.1 days) in the CG ( P ＜ 0.05).In the EG,Vibrio infection caused more serious tissue necrosis and inflammatory reaction than Bacillus and coccus did.At 4 and 8 weeks,tissue necrosis and inflammatory reaction in the EG were worse than those in the CG.Conclusion Seawater immersion can lead to increased infective tissue necrosis and inflammatory reaction in an explosive wound,as well as longer time for wound healing.