[The intratracheal behavior of the ear-composite graft. An experimental and histological study (author's transl)]

The behavior of the composite graft obtained from the concha of the external ear is studied in mini-pigs, 25, 35, 46 and 85 days following transplantation into the tracheal wall by light- and electromicroscopy. The squameous cell epithelium persists to the same extent, but its thickness has decreased as well as desquamation by adaption to the intratracheal conditions. The transplanted cartilage started degeneration in the 4th postoperative week by a slowly and continous transformation into a granulating and fibrous tissue. The adjacent respiratory epithelium reacts by hypersecretion and by the increase of goblet cells. Therefore it may be differentiated from the transplanted squameous cell epithelium. The suture material vicryl is well tolerated causing only a slight reaction by the surrounding tissue, so far as the stitch is placed intraluminally through both, the transplant and the tracheal wall.