Background. Reconstruction of a long section of the trachea is clinica
lly problematic. Tracheal reconstructions using prostheses have met wi
th limited success due to local infection, hemorrhage, luminal stenosi
s and prosthesis dislocation. Methods. We have designed a porous type
of tracheal prosthesis in which the mesh is sealed with collagen spong
e. We used this prosthesis (50 mm in length) to reconstruct the cervic
al trachea in 10 mongrel dogs and evaluated its efficacy. Results. One
dog died due to an accident with anesthesia at 6 weeks and 1 of suffo
cation at 10 weeks. The other 8 dogs had an uneventful postoperative c
ourse until they were killed between 6 and 24 months after implantatio
n. At sacrifice, all the prostheses had become completely incorporated
into the host. Microscopic examination revealed advanced formation of
a new epithelial lining in 1 dog at 6 months, and a confluent epithel
ial lining was observed in another dog at 12 months. Central stenosis
was not significant in any of the animals. Conclusions. This tracheal
prosthesis gives good results in canine tracheal reconstruction, and a
ppears very promising for the clinical repair of tracheal defects. (C)
1997 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.