Clinical and pathological assessment of different suture techniques for microvascular anastomosis in rat femoral artery

This study examined the clinical and pathologicalfeatures after a microvascular anastomosis of a ratfemoral artery using four different suture techniques.Sixty Sprage-Dawely rats were divided randomly into 4groups. Fifteen bisected arteries (one from each animal) inGroup I, II, III and IV were sutured with the simpleinterrupted suture, continuous suture, sleeve suture andcuff suture, respectively. The anastomosis times in GroupI, II, III and IV were 28.67, 14.67, 15.47 and 15.93 min,respectively. Immediate bleeding that stopped withoutintervention (grade I) was observed in 67%, 73% and60% of the anastomosed vessels in Groups II, III and IV,respectively, while 60% of the vessels in Group I showedlight bleeding that was inhibited by gentile pressure(grade II). All vessels examined appeared to be patent at 5and 15min after the anastomosis. On the 7th daypostoperatively, the vessels of Group I showed the highestpatency rate (93%) compared with Groups II (67%), III(73%) and IV (87%). Moreover, there were morepronounced pathological changes in Group I than in theother groups. These changes included endothelial loss,endothelial proliferation, degeneration and necrosis of thetunica media. Suture materials surrounded by aninflammatory reaction were also observed. In conclusion,the simple interrupted suture is preferable formicrovascular anastomosis due to its highest patency rate.The other techniques investigated can be good alternativesbecause of their short anastomotic time and moderatepathological changes.

Surgical treatment and histopathology of different forms of olecranon and presternal bursitis in cattle and buffalo

Thirty seven cases of bursitis presented to our Veterinary Teaching Hospital from 2001 to 2005. There were 10 adult female buffalos with olecranon bursitis (one had bilateral bursitis) and 26 calves (7 cattle and 19 buffalos, 16 males and 10 females) with presternal bursitis. There were 10 out of 11 cases of olecranon bursitis and 21 out of 26 cases of presternal bursitis with different forms (cystic, proliferative and fibrous) that were removed surgically. The remaining 6 cases, cystic bursitis (olecranon = 1, presternal = 5), were treated by aspiration of their contents and injection of 4% iodine tincture intrabursally. Only 2 cases recovered, 3 cases progressed to fibrosis and required further surgical treatment 2 to 3 weeks later, and 1 case continued to have a cystic lesion. Histopathological examination of tissue specimens from different forms of bursitis revealed that the acquired bursae were generally lined with synovial-like membrane formed from 2-3 cellular layers that covered the connective tissue capsule. The connective tissue capsule differed from one type to another and consisted of fibrous tissues containing numerous small blood vessels, blood capillaries, lymphatics and nerves. There was also evidence for inflammation within the capsule represented by congestion of blood vessels and the presence of perivascular inflammatory cells, mostly mononuclear. In conclusion, surgical treatment was successful and effective for treatment of olecranon and presternal bursitis particularly for the chronic proliferative and fibrous form in cattle and buffalo. The histological structure of the acquired bursae was relatively similar consisting of a synovial-like membrane and a connective tissue capsule with varying degrees of the inflammatory process.