Table 1.
Summary of the most important results for each group.
| Control Group (n = 8) | PCL Group (n = 8) | PLCL Group (n = 8) | p-value between groups (test) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Material fibre thickness | — | 325 ± 36 nm | 2047 ± 585 nm | — |
| Material thickness | — | 49 ± 5 nm | 53 ± 6 nm | — |
| Macroscopic signs of anastomotic stenosis (count; %) | 0; 0% | 0; 0% | 0; 0% | — |
| Macroscopic signs of anastomotic leakage (count; %) | 0; 0% | 0; 0% | 0; 0% | — |
| Mean PAAS score per segment (0–2) (mean ± SEM across pigs)* | 0.479 ± 0.086 | 0.823 ± 0.171 | 0.688 ± 0.070 |
0.715 (repeated measures ANOVA) |
| Incomplete re-epithelisation (count; %) | 0; 0% | 0; 0% | 0; 0% | — |
| Volume fraction of vWF positive cells [%] (mean ± SEM) | 2.22 ± 0.10 | 2.16 ± 0.16 | 2.38 ± 0.12 | 0.690 (repeated measures ANOVA) |
| Volume fraction of collagen fibres [%] (mean ± SEM) | 15.51 ± 2.10 | 15.67 ± 2.36 | 11.87 ± 1.91 | 0.740 (repeated measures ANOVA) |
| Volume fraction of MAC387 positive cells [%]: | 0.550 (two-way ANOVA) | |||
| • stitch not in sample (n: mean ± SEM) | 8: 0.38 ± 0.09 | 8: 0.46 ± 0.19 | 8: 0.21 ± 0.06 | |
| • stitch in sample (n: mean ± SEM) | 7: 0.80 ± 0.23 | 5: 0.67 ± 0.16 | 6: 0.70 ± 0.27 |
*Each animal was assigned a score equal to the average of all segment scores in that animal (i.e. 24 segment scores per animal; result theoretically ranging from 0 to 2). Mean and Standard error of the mean (SEM) stated in the table were then calculated from these animal averages.