The efficiency of bone ablation with an Nd:YAG laser beam delivered with a cooling spray: an in vitro study

This investigation studied the ablation of cortical bone with a neodymium:yttrium-aluminium-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser and how an air and water cooling spray effectively reduced the amount of heat transferred to the surrounding tissue. A 600-microns-diameter optical fiber and a 400-microns-diameter optical fiber were used to deliver an Nd:YAG laser beam to the cortical bone of two rabbit tibiae while a continuous air and water cooling spray provided cooling and irrigation to the tissue site. Different power settings and energy densities were used on 6 groups of 10 holes each. The holes were then prepared for scanning electron microscope examination and average and standard deviations were calculated for each group of collected data. The results showed that the Nd:YAG pulsed laser beam with an experimental cooling irrigation system ablated bone efficiently with minimal thermal damage.