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Excimer ablation of human intervertebral disc at 308 nanometers
Author(s) -
Wolgin Mark,
Finkenberg John,
Papaioannou Thanassis,
Segil Clive,
Soma Charles,
Grundfest Warren
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
lasers in surgery and medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1096-9101
pISSN - 0196-8092
DOI - 10.1002/lsm.1900090207
Subject(s) - ablation , nanometre , excimer , materials science , intervertebral disk , anatomy , optics , medicine , physics , composite material , lumbar , fluorescence
Excimer laser energy, which has been shown to photoablate tissue at a precisely controllable rate with minimal thermal damage, was applied to human intervertebral disc in an effort to develop a technique for percutaneous discectomy. Cadaveric samples of human disc were used. Excimer laser energy was produced by a XeCl, magnetically switched, long‐pulse laser working at 308 nm, 20 Hz. Annulus tissue of approximately 1 mm thickness was placed in contact with the output tip of a 400 μm core diameter quartz fiber, and measurements of ablation rate were made at different radiant exposures. Ablation rates were found to vary linearly with radiant exposure, from 0.7 μm/pulse at 10 mJ/mm 2 to 11.0 μm/pulse at 55 mJ/mm 2 , with a correlation coefficient of 0.984. Threshold radiant exposure, calculated by extrapolation, was found to be about 7 mJ/mm 2 . Histologic analysis showed a minimum of thermal damage in these specimens, and when ablated with modification to maintain constant fiber‐tissue contact, thermal injury was nearly absent, as compared to samples ablated with Nd:YAG through a contact probe. Thermographic analysis, performed using the AGA 782 Digital Thermography system, showed increasing temperature with increasing radiant exposure, with a maximum temperature of 47.2°C at 55 mJ/mm 2 . In that precise tissue ablation was demonstrated with minimal generated heat, and excimer energy at 308 nm is transmissible through fiber optics, excimer holds great promise for the development of a percutaneous discectomy technique.