Preservative spleen surgery and hyperbaric oxygen therapy

PURPOSE: To assess functional and morphological aspects of spleen auto-implants and of the splenic inferior pole of rats, post-operatively treated or not with hyperbaric oxygen, as well as the survival of these animals, were studied. METHODS: Seventy-eight male Wistar rats, weighing between 192 and 283 g ( 238,3 ± 9,6g), were randomly distributed into three groups: Group1-(n=20), spleen manipulation; group 2-(n=36), spleen auto-implantation; group3-(n= 22), subtotal splenectomy preserving the inferior pole. Each group was subdivided as follows: subgroup a, not submitted to hyperbaric oxygen therapy: 1a(n=10), 2a(n=21), 3a(n= 13); subgroup b, submitted to the therapy: 1b(n=10), 2b(n=15), 3b(n=9). Blood was collected pre-operatively and 11 days after surgery, for the estimation of lipids and immunoglobulins and the counting of platelets and Howell-Jolly corpuscles. The spleen and remains were taken for histological study. RESULTS: The number of surviving animals was significantly higher in groups 1(p 2. The macro and microscopic appearance in subgroup 2b were more viable than in subgroup 2a, and that of group 3 more viable than in group 2. The survival of the animals carrying their whole spleen or its inferior pole was more frequent than that of the auto-implanted animals. CONCLUSION: Functionality and viability of the whole spleen or of its inferior pole, were better than in the auto-implanted animals. Hyperbaric oxygentherapy contributed to increased survival frequency of auto -implanted animals, and to improve the functionality and viability of the auto-implants and the function of the inferior splenic pole, and did not interfere in animals carrying their whole spleen