Bone surgery with femtosecond laser compared to mechanical instruments: Healing studies

摘要

Femtosecond (fs) ablation is mediated via electron avalanche and multiphoton ionization and is characterized by very precise cutting and undetectable thermal damage in biological tissues. We have used a 775nm, 150 fs, 1kHz laser system compared to two conventional bone cutting techniques using carbide and diamond tip burs in a mice calvarial wound healing model. Wound healing was evaluated using micro computerized tomographs and histological techniques. Good healing outcomes were found for fs laser surgery in comparison to the conventional surgical methods. However, the degree of healing was highly variable in all treatment groups. The realization of healing comparable to that observed for conventional surgical tools demonstrates the possible use of fs lasers for clinical surgery involving small bones where a much higher degree of precision is required than that possible with current methods.