Bipolar vessel sealing as a refinement in fowl cecectomy

Bipolar vessel sealing is presented as a technical refinement for fowl cecectomy. Over a 13-year period, 123 laying hens aged 20-50 weeks underwent cecectomy. Two hemostatic methods were evaluated: vessel ligation with absorbable sutures (n = 68) and bipolar vessel sealing using a clamp (n = 55). Both methods provided safe hemostasis with no differences in postoperative recovery. However, vessel sealing was significantly faster (p < 0.0001) and easier to learn. Mean anesthesia time reduced from 77.28 min to 51.24 min. To our knowledge, this is the first comparative report of vessel sealing in fowl cecectomy. We strongly recommend this technique as a means of improving animal welfare.