Abstract
The objective of this study was to compare wound healing in stomach with $CO_{2}$ laser and scalpel incision by measuring the extent of bleeding, the ease of gastric incision, incision time, degree of adhesion and wound healing degree in dogs. Sixteen healthy dogs were used. Two symmetrical incisions were made in ventral aspect of the stomach between the greater and lesser curvatures were made with scalpel and 0.2 mm spot diameter $CO_{2}$ laser (8W, continuous wave) in sixteen dogs. And then each wound was closed with absorbable suture in a two-layer inverting seromuscular pattern. At 3, 7, 14 and 21 days after initial wounding, each wound was taken for histological observation. On surgery, the extent of bleeding, the ease of incision and incision time showed significant differences between the groups. The $CO_{2}$ laser provided better hemostasis (p < 0.05) and smaller postoperative adhesion compared with the scalpel. However, the scalpel produced faster speed of incision and was easier to handle than the $CO_{2}$ laser (p < 0.05). Although there was no considerable difference between the two groups in histological observation, necrosis and calcium deposit tended to be larger in the $CO_{2}$ laser than in the scalpel.
