Mechanism of laser ablation in an absorbing fluid field

Selection of a laser source for intravascular applications has frequently been predicated upon assumptions involving transmissibility in blood of the wavelength of light emitted by a given laser. Standard absorption curves for ultraviolet radiation in blood and infrared radiation in water would suggest that transmission of ultraviolet radiation through a blood field and infrared radiation through any aqueous fluid field would be insufficient for tissue ablation. The present series of experiments was undertaken to determine whether these theoretical predictions would in fact obviate the use of these wavelengths in a blood field. Specimens of normal human myocardium and/or polyvinylchloride were submerged under blood and water and irradiated with ultraviolet radiation (351 nm) delivered as a focused beam and via an optical fiber and infrared radiation (10,600 nm) delivered as a focused beam. Ablation of myocardium was successfully accomplished with a focused beam of both ultraviolet and infrared radiation under as much as 5 mm of blood and with ultraviolet radiation via an optical fiber with the fiber tip up to 3 mm distant from the tissue specimen. High-speed cine recordings of ablation carried out using a focused beam of laser radiation demonstrated that formation of a dynamic optical cavity is the basis for successful pulsed ultraviolet and infrared laser transanguineous tissue ablation. These results thus demonstrate that prediction of wavelength transmission through fluid media based on optical properties of a static fluid does not predict ability to accomplish ablation under dynamic circumstances of laser irradiation.