One dimension dynamic ablation of bovine shank bone with pulse CO2 laser

The goal of this study was an in vitro evaluation of one dimension dynamic ablation of hard bone tissue with pulse CO2 laser. The tissue model was bovine shank bone which was put on a PC-controlled motorized linear drive stage and move repeatedly through the focused beam. Pulse CO2 laser wavelength 10.6 mu m was focused down to a spot size of 510 mu m on the tissue sample surface. radiant exposure ranged from 5j/cm(2) to 45J/cm(2), repetition rates was 60Hz. After irradiation, the groove morphology produced by laser ablation were examined by optical coherent tomography (OCT) and light microscope following standard histological processing. Quantitative measurement of geometry and thermal damage of ablation groove was presented. It was shown that the width and depth of ablation groove and the zone of collateral thermal damage created in hard bone sample increased steadily with laser fluence. The results suggest that pulse CO2 laser may be a suitable candidate to cut hard bone tissue, and laser radiant exposure has an important effect on ablation rate and collateral thermal damage.