Laser Bowel Anastomosis for Dogs and Cats

Abstract

For the purpose of development of the laser technique in veterinary medicine, the new bowel welding method using a diode laser were devised. A special intestinal clamp was developed for these studies, and it was named laser welding intestinal clamp (LW clamp). In fundamental researches, laser welding of bowel in dogs and cats was confirmed to be possible using the LW clamp and the contact probes under a diode laser. Therefore, we expected that this method is applicable to clinical cases. Laser bowel anastomoses were performed for cats with megacolon and toy-breed dogs with severe bowel obstruction. As short- and long-term clinical results, any severe postoperative complications were not found, and all cases revealed favorable recovery.