CELL VITALITY IN CARTILAGE TISSUE-CULTURE FOLLOWING EXCIMER-LASER RADIATION - AN IN-VITRO EXAMINATION

Excimer laser is used for cartilage debridement, although the resulting cell damage is yet unclear. For examination of cartilage survival after treatment, we used short-term tissue cultures of human joint cartilage. Specimens were treated with a XeCl-Excimer laser using different laser parameters, pulse energies, and repetition rates. Following treatment, discs were cultured for 8 days prior to examination. In contrast to the 20 mu m damage zone as instant visible effect in histomorphologic examinations, we found a 0.3 mm zone in which similar to 50% of cartilage cells had morphological signs of damage on light microscopic examinations. Autoradiography revealed that cartilage cells in an 0.5-0.7 mm area surrounding the laser craters had no collagen synthesis. This examination indicates that cell damage of excimer laser is higher than expected from prior studies. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.