Healing of experimental excisional wounds in the rat palate. II. Histological study of electrosurgical wounds.
Healing of standardised, excisional, electrosurgical wounds in the palatal mucosa of rats was studied during a three-week period. The excision margins were made with a specially constructed biopsy instrument with a diameter of three millimetres. The soft tissue was removed with electrosurgical equipment (Siemens Standard Radiotom 612) and uncovered bone tissue was left for secondary healing. Five rats were killed 0, 1,3,5,7,10,14 and 21 days after the surgical procedure. In another group, standardised sharply dissected wounds were made and the healing followed for three weeks using the same experimental design. Photometric measurements were made of the wounds after various time intervals and serial sections from palatal blocks were subjected to light-microscopic examination. In the control group the clinical healing was completed in three weeks, whereas in the experimental group part of the wound area was still non-epithelialised on day twenty-one. Photometric measurements showed that healing was delayed in the electrosurgical group during the first week but accelerated between day 7 and day 14. On day 14 the electrosurgical wounds were still 60% larger than the sharply dissected ones. The histological examination showed a complicated healing pattern, with necrosis deep in the bone tissue and sequestration of bone fragments on the wound surface. On day 21 the repair process in the connective tissue was still going on, with elimination of damaged tissue elements.
D000818:Animals; D004598:Electrosurgery / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000502:physiology / Q000601:surgery; D010159:Palate / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology* / Q000601:surgery; D010781:Photography; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013997:Time Factors; D014945:Wound Healing