Urethral reconstruction using the carbon dioxide laser: an experimental evaluation.

In an effort to test the efficacy of the carbon dioxide laser in urethral reconstruction, patch graft urethroplasty was carried out comparing laser repair to microsurgical repair. The male Sprague Dawley rat was used as the model. An oval defect was created in the ventral urethra in 65 animals and repaired with a full thickness preputial skin graft conventional microsurgical repair, laser assisted microsurgical repair, or laser repair with a protein solder. The success rate, defined as the number of animals surviving without complications at the end of 21 days, was 50, 20, and 65% respectively. In conclusion, laser assisted repair using the protein solder was significantly better than microsurgical repair (p less than 0.05).