Effect of Distention on Intestinal Revascularization

DISTENTION of the small intestine has been shown to exert a deleterious effect on the blood flow through the intestinal wall in experimental animals and it is reasonable to expect some degree of correlation between the findings in animals and the situation in man. Indirect evidence that this is true is to be found in gross and microscopic study of material observed in the operating room and at autopsy. Direct observation, however, of the precise effect of varying degrees of distention on the intramural circulation in man during life presents obvious difficulties. It therefore seems worth while to present data based on the use of injection technics in the study of human autopsy material. Intraluminal pressures in obstructed intestines of dogs have been measured by Owings, McIntosh, Stone and Weinberg 1 ; Burget, Martzloff, Suckow and Thornton 2 ; Antoncic and Lawson 3 ; Sperling, Paine and Wangensteen, 4 and others. These studies