To assess the feasibility of welding everted enterotomies with laser.Open study.21 Male albino rats (mean weight 152 g).28 Full thickness enterotomies (involving 50% to complete circumference of the rat's small intestine) were welded with an Nd-YAG laser non-contact fibre. The bowel ends were everted and held tightly with simple non-toothed forceps during welding.Success or failure judged by the naked eye.Welding was successful in 14/20 (70%) enterotomies that involved half the circumference of the small bowel but in only 3/8 (38%) when the enterotomy extended further because of inadequate tissue opposition. A new visual end point of welding was noticed.Laser welding of everted enterotomies is safe for small enterotomies as judged by the naked eye, but controlled studies are needed before the technique can be tested in humans.