Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 21, 2026
Lavage-induced Surfactant Depletion in Pigs As a Model of the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome ARDS
Published on: September 7, 2016
Physiological and Biochemical Responses to Continuous Saline Irrigation Inside the Abdominal Cavity in Anesthetized
Takuro Ishii1, Tatsuo Igarashi1, Yukio Naya2
11 Center for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University , Chiba, Japan .
Background:
Water-filled laparoendoscopic surgery (WaFLES) has been proposed as a novel surgical system achieving a wide surgical field in the intra- and extraperitoneal space with continuous irrigation of isotonic fluid into the field. Despite its technical feasibility and advantages, the safety of the technique, particularly with respect to physiological functions, has not been evaluated.
Methods:
Various types of minor abdominal surgeries were performed under general anesthesia in nine adult pigs either by conventional laparoscopy (n = 3) or WaFLES (n = 6). In addition to esophageal temperature and body weight, cardiorespiratory variables such as blood pressure, heart rate, and arterial blood gas parameters were compared before and after the surgeries. Blood samples were obtained for assessing changes in biochemical parameters before and after the surgeries.
Results:
Three to seven hours of various surgeries were completed without critical cardiorespiratory events in all animals. Oxygenation and ventilation were maintained regardless of the techniques used for the surgeries. A minor increase of body weight (2.5% of initial body weight), metabolic acidosis, hyperkalemia, and impaired hepatic function were observed after WaFLES surgeries.
Conclusions:
The preliminary study indicated no serious immediate adverse effects of the WaFLES technique.
