Effects of artificial tracheal fixation on tracheal epithelial regeneration and prevention of tracheal stenosis

Abstract

Conclusion: Tight fixation of the artificial trachea is important for epithelialization and tracheal stenosis.

Objective: The authors have developed an artificial trachea and have used it for tracheal reconstruction. Although various studies on tracheal reconstruction have been conducted, no studies have examined the effect of artificial tracheal fixation on tracheal stenosis and regeneration. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of artificial tracheal fixation.

Study design: Preliminary animal experiment.

Methods: Artificial tracheae were implanted into rabbits with partial tracheal defects. Tracheal stenosis and regeneration of the tracheal epithelium on the artificial tracheae were evaluated by endoscopic examination, scanning electron microscopic analysis, and histological examination. The artificial tracheae fixed to the tracheal defects were classified into three groups (0-point, 4-point, and 8-point) by the number of fixation points.

Results: At 14 and 28 days post-implantation, the luminal surface of the implantation area was mostly covered with epithelium in all fixation groups. However, a small amount of granulation tissue was observed in the 0-point fixation group at 14 days post-implantation. Moreover, tracheal stenosis did not occur in the 8-point fixation group, but stenosis was detected in the other groups.

Keywords:

• Tissue regeneration
• tracheal stenosis
• laryngotracheal stenosis
• reconstruction

Acknowledgments

We thank Ms Etsuko Sato for her technical assistance.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 26462615. Also, this work was supported in part by Agri-Health Translational Research Project Grants (No. 6230 to K.O. and No. 6110 to T.T.) from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan.