Abstract
The design criteria and feasibility of specifically targeting blood vessels for thermal damage by using a pulsed alexandrite infra-red laser to heat an intravascularly injected infra-redabsorbing dye, namely indocyanine green (ICG), is demonstrated. Theoretical calculations map the distribution of light and heat in and around the subcutaneous blood vessels in a rat skin-flap window chamber as functions of dye concentration, vessel size, and vessel depth. Theoretical calculations showed that an injected dose of 6-24 mgkg-1 of ICG and a 120-μs, 1-J cm-2 alexandrite laser pulse at a wavelength of 785 nm would be sufficient to achieve selective vascular damage to a depth of at least 0.15 cm. Feasibility experiments were performed which illustrated that an irradiation of 1.27 J cm-2 of skin flaps in uninjected control rats showed no evidence of vascular damage while vascular damage was seen in skin flaps using an experimental protocol of 12 mg kg-1 i.v. of ICG and an energy fluence of 0.76 J cm-2. This procedure could conceivably prove useful in the treatment of vascular lesions or cancer.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 185-196 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Lasers In Medical Science |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 1993 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Alexandrite
- Blood vessels
- Indocyanine green
- Lasers
- Photothermolysis
- Thermal damage
- Vascular lesions
- Window-chamber skin-flap
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Dermatology