Table 1.

Histological and immunohistochemical analysis on the 3rd and 14th postoperative days ^*

	Postoperative day #3			Postoperative day #14
	Elastic fibres/area %	COX‐2 Li	VEGF‐Li	Elastic fibres/area %	COX‐2 Li	VEGF‐Li
Saline	11·0 ± 3·0	2·2 ± 0·8	0·43 ± 0·24	10·0 ± 4·7	2·0 ± 0·59	0·64 ± 0·27
Ropivacaine	12·1 ± 2·5	2·4 ± 0·6	0·4 ± 0·22	11·7 ± 0·72	2·0 ± 0·54	0·88 ± 0·22
Bupivacaine	9·5 ± 2·0	1·9 ± 0·4	0·65 ± 0·25	11·4 ± 1·3	1·2 ± 0·3	0·59 ± 0·28

^*There were no statistical differences among the three different treatment groups (mean values ± SD).