Abstract
Precancerous or cancerous lesions of the gastrointestinal tract often require surgical resection via endomucosal resection. Although excision of the colonic mucosa is an effective cancer treatment, removal of large lesions is associated with high morbidity and complications including bleeding, perforation, fistula formation, and/or stricture, contributing to high clinical and economic costs and negatively impacting patient quality of life. The present study investigates the use of a biologic scaffold derived from extracellular matrix (ECM) to promote restoration of the colonic mucosa following short segment mucosal resection. Six healthy dogs were assigned to ECM-treated (tubular ECM scaffold) and mucosectomy only control groups following transanal full circumferential mucosal resection (4 cm in length). The temporal remodeling response was monitored using colonoscopy and biopsy collection. Animals were sacrificed at 6 and 10 wk, and explants were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), Alcian blue, and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) to determine the temporal remodeling response. Both control animals developed stricture and bowel obstruction with no signs of neomucosal coverage after resection. ECM-treated animals showed an early mononuclear cell infiltrate (2 weeks post-surgery) which progressed to columnar epithelium and complex crypt structures nearly indistinguishable from normal colonic architecture by 6 weeks after surgery. ECM scaffold treatment restored colonic mucosa with appropriately located PCNA+ cells and goblet cells. The study shows that ECM scaffolds may represent a viable clinical option to prevent complications associated with endomucosal resection of cancerous lesions in the colon.