Background. The most common complication of surgical management for intussusception is anastomosis leakage. Warm normal saline application, especially on the bowel with a doubtful viability, is thought to cause vasodilation and subsequently reduce the resected bowel requirement. This research compared the effect of topical warm normal saline and papaverine on collagen grading and incidence of anastomosis leakage of the intussusception model in rats. Methods. Ileo-ileal intussusception was created on 21 Sprague-Dawley rats. Groups included control group, normal saline group, and papaverine group. Intussusceptions were then reduced and given topical warm normal saline or papaverine according to each group. Afterward, each bowel was resected, and an end-to-end anastomosis was created. After five days, laparotomy was performed to assess anastomosis leakages. Moreover, a collagen grading assessment was performed on the anastomosis. Results. The papaverine group had the highest collagen grade and no anastomosis leakage. There was no significant association between treatments and the incidence of anastomosis leakage (p=0.174), but treatments were significantly associated with collagen grade (p=0.014). Collagen grade was significantly associated with anastomosis leakage (p=0.01). Conclusion. Findings suggested that the topical application of papaverine is associated with an increase in collagen grading and higher collagen grade is associated with a decrease of anastomosis leakage. © 2021 Surgical Society of Northern Greece. All rights reserved.