Predictive model for laser-induced tissue necrosis with immunohistochemistry validation.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Physics
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Photoacoustic imaging requires safety guidelines for diverse tissues, but laser-induced necrosis risk hinders its surgical application.
• Current safety assessments are time-consuming and costly, necessitating advanced predictive methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate numerical simulation approaches for assessing laser-induced necrosis in liver tissue.
• To establish a computational framework for creating tissue-specific laser safety guidelines.

Main Methods:

• Integrated Monte Carlo simulations of laser-tissue interaction with COMSOL for thermal modeling.
• Predicted tissue necrosis percentages based on varying laser energies and irradiation times.
• Validated simulation predictions using in vivo porcine liver models and immunohistochemistry.

Main Results:

• Numerical simulations accurately predicted laser-induced necrosis, with deviations from quantitative IHC results ranging from 0.01% to 8.1%.
• Damage thresholds were established within a necrosis prediction range of 15.05% to 66.23%.
• Negligible tissue damage (<15.05% necrosis) was observed under specific laser energy conditions.

Conclusions:

• Demonstrated a viable in silico alternative to empirical methods for laser safety guideline development.
• The simulation framework shows potential for translation to various tissues and laser parameters.
• This approach can accelerate the creation of essential safety protocols for photoacoustic imaging in surgery.