TY - JOUR
T1 - Characterization of novel microsphere chain fiber optic tips for potential use in ophthalmic laser surgery
AU - Hutchens, Thomas C.
AU - Darafsheh, Arash
AU - Fardad, Amir
AU - Antoszyk, Andrew N.
AU - Ying, Howard S.
AU - Astratov, Vasily N.
AU - Fried, Nathaniel M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health under Grant R41EY019598. The simulation work was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office through Dr. J. T. Prater under Contract W911NF-09-1-0450 and by the National Science Foundation under Grant ECCS-0824067. The authors thank Cliff Williams and Mike Quinn from Carolinas Medical Center for providing the porcine eyes, Eric Smith from Celligent Technologies for processing the samples for histology, and MO-SCI Corporation for donating microspheres for this work. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the organizations funding this work.
PY - 2012/6
Y1 - 2012/6
N2 - Ophthalmic surgery may benefit from use of more precise fiber delivery systems during laser surgery. Some current ophthalmic surgical techniques rely on tedious mechanical dissection of tissue layers. In this study, chains of sapphire microspheres integrated into a hollow waveguide distal tip are used for erbium:YAG laser ablation studies in contact mode with ophthalmic tissues, ex vivo. The laser's short optical penetration depth combined with the small spot diameters achieved with this fiber probe may provide more precise tissue removal. One-, three-, and five-microsphere chain structures were characterized, resulting in FWHM diameters of 67, 32, and 30 ?m in air, respectively, with beam profiles comparable to simulations. Single Er:YAG pulses of 0.1 mJ and 75-?s duration produced ablation craters with average diameters of 44, 30, and 17 ?m and depths of 26, 10, and 8 μm, for one-, three-, and five-sphere structures, respectively. Microsphere chains produced spatial filtering of the multimode Er:YAG laser beam and fiber, providing spot diameters not otherwise available with conventional fiber systems. Because of the extremely shallow treatment depth, compact focused beam, and contact mode operation, this probe may have potential for use in dissecting epiretinal membranes and other ophthalmic tissues without damaging adjacent retinal tissue.
AB - Ophthalmic surgery may benefit from use of more precise fiber delivery systems during laser surgery. Some current ophthalmic surgical techniques rely on tedious mechanical dissection of tissue layers. In this study, chains of sapphire microspheres integrated into a hollow waveguide distal tip are used for erbium:YAG laser ablation studies in contact mode with ophthalmic tissues, ex vivo. The laser's short optical penetration depth combined with the small spot diameters achieved with this fiber probe may provide more precise tissue removal. One-, three-, and five-microsphere chain structures were characterized, resulting in FWHM diameters of 67, 32, and 30 ?m in air, respectively, with beam profiles comparable to simulations. Single Er:YAG pulses of 0.1 mJ and 75-?s duration produced ablation craters with average diameters of 44, 30, and 17 ?m and depths of 26, 10, and 8 μm, for one-, three-, and five-sphere structures, respectively. Microsphere chains produced spatial filtering of the multimode Er:YAG laser beam and fiber, providing spot diameters not otherwise available with conventional fiber systems. Because of the extremely shallow treatment depth, compact focused beam, and contact mode operation, this probe may have potential for use in dissecting epiretinal membranes and other ophthalmic tissues without damaging adjacent retinal tissue.
KW - Ablation
KW - Er:YAG
KW - Germanium
KW - Light focusing
KW - Microspheres
KW - Mid-infrared
KW - Ophthalmic
KW - Periodically focused modes
KW - Photonic nanojets
KW - Sapphire
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84867530501&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1117/1.JBO.17.6.068004
DO - 10.1117/1.JBO.17.6.068004
M3 - Article
C2 - 22734790
AN - SCOPUS:84867530501
SN - 1083-3668
VL - 17
JO - Journal of biomedical optics
JF - Journal of biomedical optics
IS - 6
M1 - 068004
ER -