title: Correlation between bursting pressure and breaking strength in colonic anastomosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the correlation between bursting pressure and breaking strength on the 7th postoperative day following left colonic anastomosis in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy rats were randomly divided into seven groups of ten animals each. All of the animals underwent segmental resection of the left colon and end-to-end anastomosis. The animals in groups I to VI underwent surgical laparoscopies with pneumoperitoneums using carbon dioxide or helium at pressures of 5, 12 or 20 mmHg. In Group VII, open laparotomy was performed. The animals were reoperated on postoperative day 7 to measure the bursting pressure and the breaking strength of the anastomosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The anastomosis bursting pressure in 70 animals was 193.10±55.56 mmHg. There was no significant difference between the groups (p=0.786). The breaking strength of the anastomosis was 0.26±0.12 N. There was no significant difference between the groups (p=0.356). Pearson's correlation test showed a low correlation (r=0.231) lacking statistical significance (p=0.054).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There was no correlation between the bursting pressure and breaking strength of left colonic anastomoses in rats on the 7th postoperative day.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Program in Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, UnB, Brasilia-DF, Brazil. leonardoduraes@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Leonardo de Castro
authors.initials: Lde C
authors.lastname: Durães
authors.forename: Eliana Ferreira Ribeiro
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Durães
authors.forename: Luiz Felipe de Campos
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Lobato
authors.forename: Paulo Gonçalves de
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.forename: João Batista de
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Sousa
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D000818:Animals; D003106:Colon / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D011028:Pneumoperitoneum, Artificial; D011184:Postoperative Period; D011312:Pressure / Q000009:adverse effects; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012016:Reference Values; D013718:Tensile Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D000267:Tissue Adhesions; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology