Autogenic allotopic small-bowel mucosa transplantation in beagles. A new perspective for treatment of small-bowel syndrome?

There is no standard treatment for the short-bowel syndrome. The aims of surgical therapy are based on: slowing the intestinal transit, increasing the absorbing intestinal area and small-bowel transplantation. Searching for a new surgical treatment we developed an alternative for increasing the absorbing small-bowel area by means of autogenic allotopic small-bowel mucosa transplantation in beagle dogs. In young animals we isolated the transverse colon leaving the blood supply intact. Colonic continuity was reestablished and two abdominal stomata were performed at the ends of the isolated transverse colon. A week thereafter the colonic mucosa of the isolated transverse colon was surgically removed and autologous small-bowel mucosa was transplanted in the demucosed colon. The animals were then sacrificed 2, 4 and 6 weeks after transplantation and the colon-coat-ileal-mucosa complex (CIC) was histologically examined. The ileal mucosa could be transplanted in the demucosed colon showing histological characteristics of ileal mucosa. The circular muscle of the colon coat developed a hypertrophy which was present even 6 weeks after transplantation. In this study we could show that autogenic allotopic small-bowel mucosa transplantation is feasible in beagle dogs and may prove a novel method of small bowel expansion in cases of small-bowel syndrome.