Evaluation of the use of the argon laser in repairing rat and primate nerves.

The argon laser coagulates blood selectively, making it an adherent material. Argon laser energy is almost completely absorbed by red blood cells and does not seem to affect white nerve tissue. To demonstrate the technical feasibility of laser repair for severed nerves, we cut the sciatic nerves of rats and the median nerves of nonhuman primates and then repaired them by use of an argon laser beam delivered through a 400 microns optical fiber and handpiece that was developed in our laboratory. Autogenous blood was spread around the group of fascicles at the repair site and was then coagulated with the laser to form a minitubule around each fascicle group. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy showed that the repairs appeared technically superior to control sutured nerves and that the laser apparently had no untoward effects on either the repair site or on the control nerve. The minitubules seemed to channel the axon sprouts into the distal tubules extremely well and to prevent ingrowth of scar tissue at the juncture site.