title: Subsurface ablation of atherosclerotic plaque using ultrafast laser pulses.
abstract: We perform subsurface ablation of atherosclerotic plaque using ultrafast pulses. Excised mouse aortas containing atherosclerotic plaque were ablated with ultrafast near-infrared (NIR) laser pulses. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) was used to observe the ablation result, while the physical damage was inspected in histological sections. We characterize the effects of incident pulse energy on surface damage, ablation hole size, and filament propagation. We find that it is possible to ablate plaque just below the surface without causing surface damage, which motivates further investigation of ultrafast ablation for subsurface atherosclerotic plaque removal.
authors.affiliation: Optics Laboratory, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lanvin
authors.affiliation: Optics Laboratory, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Donald B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Conkey
authors.affiliation: Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Aurelien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frobert
authors.affiliation: Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Valentin
authors.affiliation: Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jean-Jacques
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Goy
authors.affiliation: Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Fribourg, 1700 Fribourg, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marie-Noelle
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Giraud
authors.affiliation: Optics Laboratory, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Demetri
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Psaltis
keywords: (170.0170) Medical optics and biotechnology; (170.1020) Ablation of tissue; (170.4500) Optical coherence tomography; (170.7160) Ultrafast technology