Measurement of blood flow through surgical anastomosis using the radioactive microsphere technique

Two different radioactive microspheres (141Ce and 46Sc) were used to measure blood flow to an area of the large intestine in dogs before and after a surgical resection was performed with surgical staples. The healing of an anastomosis is theoretically related to the blood flow to the anastomotic site. Blood flow studies were conducted in three dogs using this technique. The average blood flow preoperatively was 0.558 mL/minute per gram and 1.04 mL/minute per gram postoperatively. The standard deviation was +/- 0.16. These results indicate a statistically significant (P less than .05) increase in blood flow at the anastomotic site six days after anastomosis when compared with the blood flow to the same area before any surgical procedures.