Fig. 6

a-b Perfusion differences between antimesenteric and mesenteric anastomoses. Two randomly selected loops of small bowel were stapled to create side-to-side anastomoses, one on the mesenteric side and one on the antimesenteric side. 6A shows RGB image of the experimental setup with the porcine small bowel anastomoses models, antimesenteric anastomosis on left is labelled as AM, mesenteric anastomosis on right is labelled as M. 6B shows the experimental setup in LSCI contrast image. RPU’s were measured longitudinally along both anastomoses at the matched points labelled by the black circles (10 points starting at 0 cm to 4.5 cm). As compared to RGB image, the LSCI colormap shows increased perfusion to both anastomoses proximally (red/orange) as compared to distally (blue). Based on qualitative assessment alone, the mesenteric anastomosis (right) appears to have a higher concentration of blue/green regions than the antimesenteric anastomosis (left), indicating lower perfusion. c Differences in perfusion between mesenteric vs antimesenteric anastomoses. Distribution of Relative Perfusion Units (RPU) of antimesenteric and mesenteric small bowel anastomoses are shown on Y-axis as a function of distance (cm) along the anastomoses on X axis. Mesenteric perfusion is marked by solid red line whereas antimesenteric perfusion is marked by solid black line. The mean RPU of antimesenteric and mesenteric bowel was significantly different (p < 0.05), with antimesenteric measurements greater than mesenteric perfusion at every point measured along the anastomoses