Evaluation of thermal damage in a pig model.

Background: Electrosurgical vessel sealing produces seals that can withstand intraluminal pressures well above the physiological range. In many cases it is more efficient than other methods, such as sutures, hemoclips, and ultrasonic coagulation devices, but bears lateral thermal damage as a side effect. The overall aim of this study was to compare the thermal lateral damage (TL) in vivo versus ex vivo using two different bipolar vessel sealing instruments in an epigastric vein animal model.