Symposium on surgical techniques in small animal practice. Surgery of the esophagus

There are many anastomotic techniques available that have been used successfully but no one technique guarantees 100 per cent success. Therefore the surgeon should be capable of altering his planned approach according to the circumstances. No matter what anastomotic technique is selected, for a consistently successful outcome it is imperative that the whole animal be considered in all aspects of care and rude handling of tissues be avoided during the surgical procedure. The simple interrupted approximating suture technique is recommend as one which meets the general goals of intestinal anastomosis in dogs and cats.