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Morphometric and functional results after CO 2 laser welding of nerve coaptations
Author(s) -
Happak Wolfgang,
Neumayer Christoph,
Holak Gregor,
Kuzbari Rafic,
Burggasser Georg,
Gruber Helmut
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/1096-9101(2000)27:1<66::aid-lsm9>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - medicine , sciatic nerve , nerve fiber , histology , regeneration (biology) , laser , welding , epineurial repair , anatomy , biomedical engineering , surgery , materials science , pathology , biology , optics , physics , metallurgy , microbiology and biotechnology
Background and Objective Several reports describe nerve coaptations by laser welding in combination with stay sutures and bonding material. This study was undertaken to obtain functional and morphologic information by using a nerve coaptation technique by epineurial CO 2 laser welding only. Study Design/Materials and Methods The sciatic nerves of 24 rats were transected and epineurially coapted with the CO 2 laser at 60 mW or with microsutures as a control. Walking track analysis were carried out to evaluate the functional recovery, and the nerves were harvested for histology after 6 months of regeneration. Results None of the 24 nerves showed dehiscence of the coaptations, and all showed good nerve fiber regeneration. Better results were obtained for the functional evaluation of the sciatic function index ( P < 0.02) and the toe spread index ( P < 0.04) from the laser nerve coaptations. Likewise, the morphologic evaluations of the fiber density ( P < 0.04) and area fraction ( P < 0.002) were better in the laser group. Conclusion CO 2 laser welded nerve coaptations are as successful as their sutured counterparts and may become a promising alternative in clinical practice. Lasers Surg. Med. 27:66–72, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.