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Welding of gallbladder tissue with a pulsed 2.15 μm thulium‐holmium‐chromium:YAG laser
Author(s) -
Popp Howard W.,
Oz Mehmet C.,
Bass Lawrence S.,
Chuck Roy S.,
Trokel Stephen L.,
Treat Michael R.
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.1900090211
Subject(s) - holmium , laser , gallbladder , welding , thulium , materials science , biomedical engineering , chromium , medicine , surgery , composite material , optoelectronics , optics , doping , metallurgy , physics
Percutaneous endoscopic approaches to cholelithiasis would be facilitated by methods for welding gallbladder tissues. We evaluated the bursting pressure and histologic appearance of canine gallbladder tissue welded with a thulium‐holmium‐chromium:YAG (THC:YAG) laser producing a 2.15 μm pulsed output. The tissue absorption characteristics at this wavelength as well as the pulsed nature of the output permit tissue welding with limited collateral thermal damage. The THC:YAG is compatible with a flexible fiberoptic delivery system. Bursting strengths of the welded junctions averaged 42 mm Hg, which is above physiologically encountered pressures. Histologic sections of the bonded tissues revealed tissue fusion and limited thermal injury to the surrounding tissue. We feel that THC:YAG laser welding may be a useful technique in the clinical development of percutaneous endoscopic biliary surgery.