Abstract
BACKGROUND: Amniotic membrane is considered a promising procedure as a graft in the field of ophthalmology and skin reconstruction. It has been shown to decrease inflammation, fibrosis, elicit no host immune reaction and also has antibiotic actions. AIM: Recently, the amnion has been shown to contain cells capable of plasticity. Therefore, we felt its application could be extended to include surgical reconstruction. METHODS: We used ureteric reconstruction to study the feasibility of the amnion as a graft in these situations. We induced different degrees of injury in the ureter of dogs and reconstructed the defect with amniotic membrane. In addition, we also studied the effects of supplying the graft with a source of blood supply. RESULTS: The subjects were sacrificed after 6 weeks and histopathological examination showed impressive repair of the defect. CONCLUSION: The post reconstruction complications seen with present grafts were not seen with amniotic membrane. Therefore, amniotic membrane has produced noteworthy results and its potential should be further evaluated in order to be used as a cheap, readily available source of graft for the various surgical reconstruction procedures.