An improved nonsuture method for portacaval anastomosis in the rat.

A nonsuture technique is described for performing portacaval anastomoses in rats. Improvements include reduced clamping time on critical vessels, reduced blood loss, uniformly patent anastomoses, easily manufactured buttons, and decreased mortality rates. The new procedure allows a single operator to perform 25 such operations per day, thus substantially increasing the availability of these animals for studies in hepatic metabolism following portacaval anastomoses.