Semion Rochkind

Spinal cord response to laser treatment of injured peripheral nerve.

The authors describe the changes occurring in the spinal cord of rats subjected to crush injury of the sciatic nerve followed by low-power laser irradiation of the injured nerve. Such laser treatment of the crushed peripheral nerve has been found to mitigate the degenerative changes in the corresponding neurons of the spinal cord and induce proliferation of neuroglia both in astrocytes and oligodendrocytes. This suggests a higher metabolism in neurons and a better ability for myelin production under the influence of laser treatment.

Low-Energy Laser Irradiation And The Nervous System: Method And Results

The present study introduces a novel method for assessing the efficacy of so-called soft tissue lasers on the peripheral and central nervous systems. In any readily available method relying on low energy laser irradiation, one of the most critical factors is obviously the wavelength of the laser, for this will determine how much of the energy applied to the skin or muscle actually reaches the target nerve. The present findings reaffirm our conclusion that low energy laser irradiation is bene-ficial in the treatment of injured peripheral or central nervous system, the beneficial effect diminishing with decreasing wavelength from 632nm down to 465nm. Our results pave the way for a new approach to the treatment of traumatic paraplegia and argue in favor of a combination of laser irradiation and PNS or CNS transplantation for the treatment of spinal cord injury.

CO 2 - Laser Intestinal Anastomosis Histological And Manometric Study

Low energy CO2 laser was used to perform intestinal anastomosis by means of tissue welding in 10 Wistar rats. The post operative course in the studied animals was uneventful. The integrity of the anastomosis was investigated manometrically, immediately upon completion of the anasto-mosis and twenty days later. Ten Wistar rats served as control in which conventional interrupted one-layer anastomosis was performed. The results show a significant superior-ity (P<0.05) to those intestinal anastomoses which were constructed by means of laser tissue welding. The time to complete the anastomosis was also significantly shorter when the laser was used, as compared to hand suturing. Serial histological examinations up to 90 days following surgery revealed complete healing and epithelialization of the anastomotic site. The technical details of the CO2 laser anastomosis are described.