Abstract
Recently, much attention has been paid to maintain the long-term patency after conventional vascular anastomosis especially for the small-caliber vessels. There are some problems in maintaing the long-term patency of the bypass grafts. So, we have arranged some ideas for them with small amount of suture materials. That is, low energy CO2 laser was utilized to make vascular anastomosis with a few stay sutures. Laser vascular anastomoses were undertaken in the regions of the femoral arteries and its veins,the carotid arteries and jugular veins in the mongrel dogs. Coronary artery bypass grafting was also successfully carried out between the internal thoracic artery and the left anterior descending artery under beating heart in experiment.
Output of 20-40mW and irradiation time of 6-12sec/mm were optimal conditions for anastomosis of the small- caliber vessels. There were no problems in the intensity and the healing of the anastomotic sites in comparison with the conventional suture method. On the basis of excellent experimental results a low energy CO2 laser was clinically employed for vascular anastomosis of the peripheral and coronary arteries.
There were no complications such as bleeding and vascular aneurysm after surgery. In conclusion, laser vascular anastomosis might be recommended in performing with safety and rapidly for small-caliber vessels.
