Healing of surgical wounds of the stomach after gastric freezing

Dogs were submitted to gastric freezing at -4 °C. (balloon-surface temperature) or to sham freezing. Twenty-four hours later the stomach was transected and reanastomosed. The suture line was submitted to histologic examination and measurement of tensile strength 1, 2, 4, 6, and 10 days following operation. Histologic examination revealed a more pronounced inflammatory reaction in the suture lines of those stomachs that had actually been frozen, while the tensile strength was identical in both groups. Under the conditions of these experiments, where excessive gastric wall damage was avoided by monitoring and control of the mucosal temperature, gastric freezing did not interfere with wound healing following gastric transection and resuture.