Temperature-controlled laser-soldering system and its clinical application for bonding skin incisions

Laser tissue soldering is a method of repairing incisions. It involves the application of a biological solder to the approximated edges of the incision and heating it with a laser beam. A pilot clinical study was carried out on 10 patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Of the four abdominal incisions in each patient, two were sutured and two were laser soldered. Cicatrization, esthetical appearance, degree of pain, and pruritus in the incisions were examined on postoperative days 1, 7, and 30. The soldered wounds were watertight and healed well, with no discharge from these wounds or infection. The total closure time was equal in both methods, but the net soldering time was much shorter than suturing. There was no difference between the two types of wound closure with respect to the pain and pruritus on a follow-up of one month. Esthetically, the soldered incisions were estimated as good as the sutured ones. The present study confirmed that temperature-controlled laser soldering of human skin incisions is clinically feasible, and the results obtained were at least equivalent to those of standard suturing.