In vitro femtosecond laser-assisted nanosurgery of porcine posterior capsule.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate femtosecond laser-assisted nanosurgery of the posterior capsule in a prospective in vitro animal study.


METHODS
Department of Ophthalmology and Eye Hospital, University of Saarland, Homburg, and Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering, St. Ingbert, Germany.


METHODS
The posterior capsules of 12 porcine eyes were irradiated with a nonamplified 90 MHz near-infrared 750 nm titanium:sapphire femtosecond laser. Intratissue and superficial laser cuts of laser-ablated (5 capsules) and control (1 capsule) specimens were examined by femtosecond multiphoton laser scanning microscopy (MLSM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).


RESULTS
Laser exposure time and pulse power determined the width of the lesions, which ranged from 0.69 microm+/-0.19 (SD) to 2.81+/-0.5 microm. Both MLSM and TEM revealed minimal collateral alterations in the tissue surrounding the laser cuts.


CONCLUSIONS
Nonamplified near-infrared femtosecond laser pulses at low pulse energies may be a promising strategy for precise lamellar noncontact nanosurgery of the posterior capsule, with minimal structural collateral damage to surrounding tissue. High-resolution MLSM offers 3-dimensional, noninvasive, nondestructive imaging at submicrometer resolution within seconds before and after ablation.
Toropygin
Sergey G
SG
Department of Ophthalmology and Eye Hospital, University of Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Germany. doctorop@mail.ru
Krause
Matthias
M
Riemann
Iris
I
Seitz
Berthold
B
Mestres
Pedro
P
Ruprecht
Klaus W
KW
König
Karsten
K
D000818:Animals; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D053844:Lasers, Solid-State; D007903:Lens Capsule, Crystalline / Q000601:surgery* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013552:Swine