title: Femtosecond laser-assisted selective reduction of neovascularization in rat cornea.
abstract: Nonlinear multiphoton absorption induced by focusing near infrared (NIR) femtosecond (fs) laser pulses into a transparent cornea allows surgery on neovascular structures with minimal collateral damage. In this report, we introduce an fs laser-based microsurgery for selective treatment of rat corneal neovascularizations (in vivo). Contiguous tissue effects are achieved by scanning a focused laser pulse below the corneal surface with a fluence range of 2.2-8.6 J/cm(2). The minimal visible laser lesion (MVL) threshold determined over the corneal neovascular structures was found to be 4.3 J/cm(2). Histological and optical coherence tomography examinations of the anterior segment after laser irradiations show localized degeneration of neovascular structures without any unexpected change in adjacent tissues. Furthermore, an approximately 30 % reduction in corneal neovascularizations was observed after 5 days of fs laser exposure. The femtosecond laser is thus a promising tool for minimally invasive intrastromal surgery with the aid of a significantly smaller and more deterministic photodisruptive energy threshold for the interaction between the fs laser pulse and corneal neovascular structures.
authors.affiliation: Center for Medical Metrology, Division of Convergence Technology, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, Daejeon, 305 340, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Mehra S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Sidhu
authors.forename: Min-Yeong
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Suk-Yi
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Woo
authors.forename: Hyun-Kyu
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Heung-Soon
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Kyu-Jin
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sae Chae
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Jeoung
authors.forename: Jun-Sub
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Choun-Ki
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Joo
authors.forename: Il-Hong
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003315:Cornea / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D016510:Corneal Neovascularization / Q000601:surgery*; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D053844:Lasers, Solid-State / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008866:Microsurgery; D051381:Rats