EXPERIMENTAL ORTHOTOPIC SMALL-BOWEL TRANSPLANTATION - A REVISED MODEL

Small bowel transplantation is emerging as an alternative treatment fo r end-stage intestinal failure. To date, immunological and technical p roblems are still hampering clinical success. Functional experimental small bowel transplantation models have traditionally been plagued wit h a high technical complication rate. The purpose of this study was to describe in detail the harvesting and transplantation procedure in ra ts. in this paper the technical aspects of the one-stage, isogenic ort hotopic partial small bowel transplantation model with systemic draina ge are illustrated. Because of the achieved acceptable survival rate a nd the favourable functional outcome, the model is considered reliable and reproducible. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.