Related Experiment Videos
Laser welding of everted enterotomies in rats
A Farag1, S E Nasr, M F el Ashkar
1Laser Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.
Objective:
To assess the feasibility of welding everted enterotomies with laser.
Design:
Open study.
Material:
21 Male albino rats (mean weight 152 g).
Interventions:
28 Full thickness enterotomies (involving 50% to complete circumference of the rat's small intestine) were welded with an Nd-YAG laser non-contact fibre. The bowel ends were everted and held tightly with simple non-toothed forceps during welding.
Main Outcome Measure:
Success or failure judged by the naked eye.
Results:
Welding was successful in 14/20 (70%) enterotomies that involved half the circumference of the small bowel but in only 3/8 (38%) when the enterotomy extended further because of inadequate tissue opposition. A new visual end point of welding was noticed.
Conclusion:
Laser welding of everted enterotomies is safe for small enterotomies as judged by the naked eye, but controlled studies are needed before the technique can be tested in humans.