306 Chapter 13 Drop-Out A considerable number of rats, 20 out of 42, were prematurely excluded from the experiment. Twelve rats were prematurely sacrificed due to visible anal blood loss (n = 5 unloaded hydrogel, n = 7 MMC-loaded hydrogel). Five additional rats (n = 1 unloaded hydrogel, and n = 4 MMC-loaded hydrogel) were taken out because of a too high welfare score and reaching HEP before the end of the experiment. One female rat treated with unloaded hydrogel was excluded for further analysis due to technical error during the operation (too much blood loss during the creation of the anastomosis). Another female unloaded hydrogel animal was taken out of the experiment after one day because the animal had opened its fascia and peritoneum, and another one treated with MMC-loaded hydrogel because she had an incarceration of omentum in an abdominal hernia. Figure 3. Anastomotic site (green arrows) in (A) an MMC-loaded hydrogel-treated rat with blood loss on POD 3 and (B) an MMC-loaded hydrogel-treated rat without blood loss on POD 7. Both show fat adhesions. (C) Occurrence of blood loss in relation to PODs. (D) H&E staining of anastomotic site (10 × 5) of an MMC-loaded hydrogel treated animal with intraluminal blood loss. A yellow dashed line indicates the site of anastomosis. Thrombi are annotated by asterisks, with surrounding signs of bleeding. (E) Enlargement (20 × 5) of the region of interest shown in (D), with hemorrhagic spots. M = male, F = female.
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