The objective of this study was to compare wound healing in stomach with CO₂ 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 CO₂ 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 CO₂ laser provided better hemostasis (p less than 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 CO₂ laser (p less than 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 CO₂ laser than in the scalpel.

A 7-year-old, castrated male Yorkshire terrier dog with chronic vomiting, and melena lasted for 3 weeks was referred to the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital of Chungnam National University. The complete blood counts and serum biochemistry revealed no remarkable findings. Gastrointestinal series revealed irregular margin in small intestinal lumen. After upper gastrointestinal series, erythema of the small intestinal lesions was found by exploratory laparotomy and full-thickness biopsy was performed. Histopathologic examination revealed infiltration of predominantly eosinophils and other inflammatory cells in small intestine. Based on these findings, the dog was diagnosed as eosinophilic enteritis. After 4 weeks medical treatment and hypoallergenic diet, the patient showed no vomiting, melena and other complications.