Corrosive esophageal injuries. II. An investigation of treatment methods and histochemical analysis of esophageal strictures in a new animal model.

The unique clinical experience of having to treat simultaneously nine young adults who had ingested the same corrosive substance prompted this investigation in rabbits of the pathophysiology of corrosive esophageal injury and of drugs that might prevent formation of stricture. Treatment of experimental corrosive esophageal injury in these animals consisted of antegrade dilatation and administration of two lathyrogenic drugs, colchicine and penicillamine, in various combinations. This study demonstrated that the rabbit can serve as a suitable animal model for study of corrosive injury of the esophagus, that penicillamine given alone affected wound healing with less severe stricture after such an injury, and that colchicine was associated with delayed wound healing and severe stricture.