Abstract: One significant cause of death during a sever trauma (gun wound or stab wound) is internal bleeding. A semiconductor diode laser system has been used in in vitro studies of cauterizing veins and arteries to stop bleeding. The conditions of laparoscopic surgery, including bleeding conditions (blood flow and pressure), are simulated. Results have been obtained both with and without using a hemostat (e.g., forceps) to temporarily stop the bleeding prior to the cautery. With the hemostat and a fiber-coupled 810-nm laser, blood vessels of up to 5 mm diameter were cauterized with an 8 W output from the fiber. Great cautions must be used in extrapolating from these in vitro results, since the exact conditions of bleeding in a living being are impossible to exactly reproduce in a laboratory in-vitro experiment. In a living being, when blood flow stops the cessation of nourishment to the vessels results in irreversible physiological changes. Also, the blood itself is different from blood in a living being because an anti-clotting agent (heparin) was added in order to inhibit the blood's natural tendency to coagulate.!4
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