A comparison among the effects of lasers, electrocoagulator and heat probe for partial splenectomy in the rabbit

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of various surgical hemostatic instruments in partial splenectomy of rabbits. The partial splenectomy was performed with the following tools: 1) Bovie electrocoagulator, 2) CO₂ Laser, 3) Beat Probe Unit, 4) Contact Nd: YAG Laser with unipolar probe, 5) Contact Nd: YAG Laser with bipolar probe. The parameters of efficacy were operation time, amount of bleeding, blood loss and number of sutures used in operation. The laser is superior to other tools from the aspect of postsplenectomy tissue damage and the area of fibrosis after recovery from operation. The contact Nd: YAG laser causes less tissue damage than the CO₂ laser. The contact Nd: YAG laser is also most clinically helpful as far as the time required for operation, bleeding amount, amount of smoking and sutures required in operation. Therefore, the contact Nd: YAG laser with synthetic ceramic sapphire probes proved to be an effective and competent method for partial splenectomy on rabbits. Its future application in pediatric and general surgery will be studied and evaluated.