Serial laparoscopic biopsies of liver and spleen from Schistosoma-infected baboons (Papio spp.).

PURPOSE: To obtain large, serial biopsy samples from the liver and spleen by using laparoscopy. Large samples were needed for measurement of inflammatory mediators during various stages of schistosomiasis. METHODS: Each of the seven female baboons (Papio sp.) underwent as many as three laparoscopies, for a total of 19 laparoscopic procedures. This process permitted sampling of the liver, spleen, and mesenteric lymph nodes before and at 6 and 9 weeks after infection with Schistosoma mansoni. All surgery was performed through three trocar sites. Postoperative care included preemptive analgesia. After surgery, we monitored the animals' appetite and measured the core body temperature and activity by using implanted radiofrequency transmitters. RESULTS: We obtained samples of the liver and splenic biopsies during all 19 laparoscopic procedures. The mean weight of the liver biopsies was 3.7 g and that of the spleen samples was 5.3 g. We encountered small adhesions during 5 of the 12 reoperations. Eating and activity rapidly returned after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopy permitted collection of large, serial biopsies with apparently limited stress to the animals. Laparoscopy can be used for biopsies in studies to characterize disease response, confirm normal organ histology prior to drug toxicity studies, determine target-organ drug concentrations in pharmacokinetic studies, and measure drug residues. This refinement likely will reduce required animal numbers by decreasing the effect of surgery compared to that of the experimental conditions, enhance animal well-being, and permit repeated measurements in an animal that serves as its own control.

Video-assisted percutaneous cystoscopy of the bladder and prostatic urethra in the dog: new approach for visual laser ablation of the prostate.

A new minimally invasive approach for video laparoscopy was developed to access the bladder and prostatic urethra of the dog in order to perform laser ablation of the prostate without using either an open laparotomy or urethrostomy. During general anesthesia, a 10-mm laparoscope was introduced into the peritoneal cavity. Under direct vision, the bladder was distended, and trocars were placed percutaneously by two different methods. A 22F cystoscope was introduced through the transcystic trocar into the prostatic urethra for visual laser ablation of the prostate (VLAP). In all eight dogs, the video-assisted technique for percutaneous access to the prostatic urethra was successful. No complications were associated with placement of the Veress needle, creation of the pneumoperitoneum, or accessing of the bladder lumen and proximal urethra. The visibility in the peritoneal cavity was excellent, and hemorrhage was minimal in all cases. In two dogs, a laparotomy was performed after displacement of the cystoscope from the urinary bladder. Irrigation fluid for the cystoscope drained primarily around the trocar cuff surrounding the instrument. In one case, the irrigation fluid drained around the trocar in the bladder and filled the peritoneal cavity.