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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 43: Laser in der Medizin

Q 43.4: Talk

Tuesday, March 8, 2005, 14:45–15:00, HU 1070

Prototype laser system for osteotomy — •Martin Werner¹, Said Afilal¹, Mikhail Ivanenko¹, Manfred Klasing¹, and Peter Hering^1,2 — ¹Lasertechnology Group, Research Centre caesar, Bonn (www.caesar.de) — ²Institute of Lasermedicine, University Düsseldorf (www.ilm.uni-duesseldorf.de)

Laser osteotomy, the laser cutting of bone, is not a straightforward task, since bone consists of very strong and temperature stable hydroxyapatite with a melting point above 1200 ^∘C on the one hand and of living cells, which will be damaged even by a small temperature rise, on the other hand. Pulsed CO₂ lasers, combined with an additional fine air water spray, offer a biologically compliant way to cut bony tissue. The tissue ablation is based on the fast explosion-like evaporation of internal bone liquid, which removes mechanically a thin tissue layer, that has absorbed the laser light. A prototype laser osteotomy system based on a pulsed CO₂ slab laser will be introduced. With special irradiation techniques it is possible to achieve cut depths and cutting velocities that are applicable for intra-operative use even in multiplayer bone tissue. First animal trials underline the good medical tolerance of the method already shown in good histological results.