The effect of tegafur and uracil combination on colonic anastomotic strength: an experimental study on rats

Some patients are candidates for neo-adjuvant use of Tegafur, a prodrug of 5-fluorouracil, and Uracil combination (UFT). The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of preoperative UFT use on the strength of colonic anastomosis.

Forty Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into a control (group 1, n=10) and three study (Group 2, 3 and 4, 10 animals in each group) groups. Animals in control and study groups were given saline or UFT which included 50 mg/kg of Tegafur via an oral-gastric tube for 28 days. A segmental colonic resection and end-to-end anastomosis was performed on all animals 1, 1, 7 and 14 days after the treatments had ended in groups 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. On postoperative day 7 the animals were killed and bursting pressure and breaking strength were measured.

Three animals in the treatment groups died during the preoperative period, and one in the control group died after surgery. The animals in groups 2 and 3 had lesser bursting pressures than the control group (p<0.001), but no statistical difference was observed in bursting pressures of the control group and group 4 (p>0.05). The breaking strengths of each group were statistically different from the other groups (p<0.001 for each comparison).

UFT use during the preoperative period affected the anastomosis strength in this animal experiment. Current study suggests that an operation should not be performed during the 14 days after UFT use has ended.