Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK.
Leeds Institute of Medical Research At St. James's, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS9 7TF, UK.
Sci Rep. 2020 Nov 20;10(1):20261. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-73349-w.
Endoluminal surgery for the treatment of colorectal neoplasia is typically carried out using electrocautery tools which imply limited precision and the risk of harm through collateral thermal damage to the adjacent healthy tissue. As a potential alternative, we present the successful colonic epithelial laser ablation by means of picosecond laser pulses. Laser ablation studies performed in ex-vivo colon tissue result in cavities with comparable thickness to early stage colorectal cancers. The corresponding histology sections exhibit only minimal collateral damage to the surrounding tissue and the depth of the ablation can be controlled precisely by means of the pulse energy. High-speed imaging has been used for the first time to visualize picosecond laser ablation of cancerous tissue in a clinically relevant model. This information was correlated with histopathology and optical surface profilometry revealing the dynamic nature of the laser tissue interaction and the need for temporal or spatial separation of pulses for optimum efficacy with regards to tissue removal. Overall, the application of picosecond laser pulses to ablate endoluminal bowel lesions demonstrates significantly improved precision and reduced thermal damage to the adjacent tissue in comparison to conventional procedures and hence will enable more precise surgical treatment of cancers.
经内镜手术治疗结直肠肿瘤通常使用电烙工具进行,这意味着精度有限,并且存在通过邻近健康组织的热损伤而造成伤害的风险。作为一种潜在的替代方法,我们成功地使用皮秒激光脉冲进行了结肠上皮激光消融。在离体结肠组织中进行的激光消融研究导致形成的腔与早期结直肠癌具有可比的厚度。相应的组织学切片仅显示对周围组织的最小的附带损伤,并且可以通过脉冲能量精确控制消融的深度。高速成像已首次用于可视化临床相关模型中癌变组织的皮秒激光消融。该信息与组织病理学和光学表面轮廓测量相关联,揭示了激光组织相互作用的动态特性以及需要在时间或空间上分离脉冲,以实现最佳的组织去除效果。总的来说,与传统方法相比,皮秒激光脉冲在消融腔内腔内肠病变方面的应用可显著提高精度并减少对邻近组织的热损伤,从而能够更精确地治疗癌症。