In situ monitoring of second-harmonic generation in human corneas to compensate for femtosecond laser pulse attenuation in keratoplasty

The application of femtosecond lasers in corneal transplant surgery requires high pulse energies to compensate for the strong optical scattering in pathological corneas. However, excessive energies deteriorate the quality of the incisions. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the dependence of si...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of biomedical optics 2007-11, Vol.12 (6), p.064032-064032
Main Authors: Nuzzo, Valeria, Plamann, Karsten, Savoldelli, Michèle, Merano, Michele, Donate, David, Albert, Olivier, Gardeazábal Rodríguez, Pedro Felipe, Mourou, Gerard, Legeais, Jean-Marc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biophysical Phenomena
Biophysics
Cornea
Cornea - pathology
Cornea - radiation effects
Cornea - surgery
Corneal Edema - pathology
Corneal Transplantation - adverse effects
Corneal Transplantation - methods
Energy use
Femtosecond
Humans
In Vitro Techniques
Laser Therapy - adverse effects
Laser Therapy - methods
Lasers
Mathematical models
Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
Monitoring, Physiologic
Numerical aperture
Optics
Optics and Photonics
Penetration depth
Physics
Scattering, Radiation
Side effects
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Summary:The application of femtosecond lasers in corneal transplant surgery requires high pulse energies to compensate for the strong optical scattering in pathological corneas. However, excessive energies deteriorate the quality of the incisions. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the dependence of side effects on local radiant exposure, numerical aperture, and tissue properties, to quantify the penetration depth of the laser for individual corneas, and to provide a method for optimizing the energy in the volume of the cornea. We examine histological and ultrastructural sections of clear and edematous corneas with perforating and lamellar incisions performed at different pulse energies. We demonstrate that the augmented energies in edematous corneas may result in unwanted side effects even when using high numerical apertures. The dependence of the laser beam penetration depth on pulse energy is evaluated by histology and an exponential decrease is observed. We show that the penetration length can be determined by evaluating the backscattered second-harmonic emission associated with the nonlinear optical properties of the tissue. This approach represents a noninvasive method for the in situ quantification of the laser beam attenuation, enabling us to adapt the pulse energy accordingly. Experiments using adapted energies show that the side effects are minimized.
ISSN:1083-3668
DOI:10.1117/1.2811951