Histologic evaluation of wound healing in experimental intestinal anastomoses: effects of antineoplastic agents

Histologic evaluation of intestinal wound healing with and without cytostatics was performed in 36 rats. Variables were the relative position of the wound edges in mucosa and muscularis, necrosis, exudate, granulation tissue, granulocytes, macrophages, fibroblasts, restoration of the mucosal epithelium, and repair of the muscularis propria. The relative position of the wound edges in the mucosa and the muscularis in the initial phase of wound healing depended on technique but appeared to improve in the later phases of wound healing. It was not affected by the administration of antineoplastic agents; neither were muscularis repair, epithelial restoration of the mucosa, necrosis, nor exudate. Granulation tissue, fibroblasts and macrophages were present in maximal amounts after 7 days appearing later or showing this maximum at a different moment in time when antineoplastic agents were given. The processes of epithelial and muscularis repair were not influenced by the relative position of the wound edges. Granulation tissue, macrophages, and fibroblasts were the best parameters for measuring the histologic evolution of intestinal wound healing, and the effects of antineoplastic agents upon it.