Related Experiment Video
Updated: Nov 9, 2025
"Liver-on-a-Chip" Cultures of Primary Hepatocytes and Kupffer Cells for Hepatitis B Virus Infection
Published on: February 19, 2019
Surgical plume from tissue infected with human hepatitis B virus can contain viral substances
Masashi Hirota1, Hidekazu Takahashi2, Yasuhiro Miyazaki2
1Department of Next Generation Endoscopic Intervention, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Introduction:
Evidence on the biological danger associated with surgical plume is lacking. We examined whether surgical plume, generated by the energy devices ultrasonically activated scalpel (US) or electrocautery (EC) contains virus-related substances.
Material And Methods:
Experiment 1, ex-vivo model: Tumor mass of a hepatocellular carcinoma line was prepared in a Nod/SCID mouse. Surgical plume generated on the mass by US or EC was collected and detection of HBs gene fragment and antigens (HBsAg or AFP) was conducted. Experiment 2, clinical specimen: Detection of HBV-DNA and HBsAg was conducted following the collection of surgical plume generated from clinically obtained liver specimens from six HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma patients.
Results:
Experiment 1: HBs gene fragment was detected in the solutions regardless of the device used. HBsAg was detected in US and EC solutions and AFP was also detected in a US solution. Experiment 2: HBV-DNA was detected in both devices, in all three cases whose preoperative serum HBV-DNA was positive. In the other serum-negative cases, HBV-DNA was not detected. While serum HBsAg was positive in five of six cases, it was not detected in any solution.
Conclusions:
DNA fragments or antigens of virus can exist in the surgical plume generated by EC or US.
