Is a laparoscopic serial liver biopsy considered major animal surgery?
Reader Question: We would like to use laparoscopic procedures to obtain serial biopsy samples from an animal’s liver before introduction of an infection agent, and again at two intervals after infection. A member of our Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) says the biopsy penetrates the body cavity, so it’s “major” surgery. That’s not my reading of guidelines from the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW), which says the body cavity must be exposed and/or the biopsy must “substantially” impair the animal physically or physiologically. Who is right? Reader Question: The simple answer is that it is indeed a “major” procedure because, based on the information you’ve given, your IACUC has made that determination. According to this statement from OLAW, the IACUC has discretion to classify a surgery as major or minor, following OLAW guidelines: “OLAW would consider the IACUC, in its review of the unique circumstances of the research activity, as the determiner of whether
