INTRAPERITONEAL INTRODUCTION OF TANTALUM POWDER - A ROENTGENOGRAPHIC AND PATHOLOGIC STUDY

In each of 11 white New Zealand rabbits, a dose of 5.5 Gm tantalum powder was injected into the peritoneal cavity. Roentgenograms of the abdomen and thorax were obtained at intervals of from one day to one week, and the rabbits sacrificed at intervals of from one day to fourteen weeks. Postmortem roent-genograms were obtained and gross and microscopic examinations were performed. The tantalum powder was distributed over the visceral and parietal peritoneum, outlining intraabdominal organs. At approximately one week, the tantalum was seen in abdominal mesenteric lymphatics and in mediastinal lymph nodes. Individual particles of tantalum powder evoked no inflammatory reactions; however, conglomerates of tantalum did provoke a local vascular, fibrous response. © Lippincott-Raven Publishers.