Modeling of (coronary) laser‐angioplasty

摘要

AbstractA first attempt to describe (coronary) laser angioplasty is presented using simplified but standard optical and thermal modeling of tissue in interaction with a laser. Ablation behavior of blood thrombi and plaque has been approximated from numerical computations for various wavelengths representing the Ar, Nd‐YAG, and CO2lasers. The overall results, in terms of calculated depth of ablation versus laser irradiation time, show a relatively fast initial process followed by a very slow one. The analysis suggests that a sequence of laser pulse‐catheter tip flushing should substantially increase the overall ablation velocity. The physics of threshold laser power and influence of laser beam diameter is discussed. A comparison between experimental results is made when possible. Suggestions for further test experiments are m