title: Temperature response of biological materials to pulsed non-ablative CO2 laser irradiation.
abstract: This paper presents surface temperature responses of various tissue phantoms and in vitro and in vivo biological materials in air to non-ablative pulsed CO2 laser irradiation, measured with a thermocamera. We studied cooling off behavior of the materials after a laser pulse, to come to an understanding of heat accumulation and related thermal damage during (super) pulsed CO2 laser irradiation. The experiments show a very slow decay of temperatures in the longer time regime. This behavior is well predicted by a simple model for one-dimensional heat flow that considers the CO2 laser radiation as producing a heat flux on the material surface. The critical pulse repetition frequency for which temperature accumulation is sufficiently low is estimated at about 5 Hz. Although we have not investigated the ablative situation, our results suggest that very low pulse frequencies in microsurgical procedures may be recommended.
authors.affiliation: Laser Center, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Brugmans
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kemper
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Gijsbers
authors.forename: F W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: van der Meulen
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: van Gemert
mesh_terms: D000180:Acrylic Resins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects; D000818:Animals; D001831:Body Temperature / Q000528:radiation effects*; D001834:Body Water / Q000737:chemistry; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D004285:Dogs; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D007834:Lasers; D008099:Liver / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D008954:Models, Biological; D008961:Models, Structural; D009132:Muscles / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D014066:Palatine Tonsil / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D013814:Thermal Conductivity; D013816:Thermodynamics; D013821:Thermometers; D013997:Time Factors; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000502:physiology / Q000528:radiation effects; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects; D000099166:Polyacrylamides
chemical_list: D000180:Acrylic Resins; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D014867:Water; D000099166:Polyacrylamides