The Concept Of A Laser Scalpel With A "curved" Blade Is Proposed

2024 Author: | . Last modified: 2024-01-10 03:12

Currently, there are only laser scalpels with a cylindrical blade, which is not always convenient - however, scientists have found a way out of this situation. The laser scalpel is a surgical instrument with which biological tissues are cut or removed using the energy of laser radiation. The beam sharply increases the temperature in a limited area of the tissue - it can reach 400 ° C. At this temperature, the irradiated area instantly burns out. In this case, the laser immediately "seals" the small blood vessels along the edges of the incision. The laser scalpel makes very thin incisions, reduces bleeding, and the radiation itself is absolutely sterile. “The conventional surgical scalpel has a wide variety of blade shapes to suit specific applications. Laser scalpels do not have such a variety, more precisely, as long as there is only one form of radiation localization - axisymmetric. Therefore, we have proposed a simple way to make the tip shape curved using a photonic "hook" - this is a new type of curved self-accelerating light beam that really resembles a hook in shape. Earlier, we theoretically predicted and experimentally confirmed the existence of such a “hook”,”said Igor Minin, the project manager and one of the authors of the article, professor of the TPU Electronic Engineering Department. The concept and its rationale are published in the Journal of Biophotonics. An indispensable element of a laser scalpel is a light guide for transmitting laser energy. At its end, a focused laser beam with a length of several wavelengths is formed. With its help, the surgeon performs the necessary manipulations. Fiber is the standard material for the fiber. “To bend the laser beam, we proposed one of the simplest possible solutions: to place an amplitude or phase mask at the end of the fiber. It is a thin plate made of metal or a dielectric material like glass. The mask redistributes the energy flow inside the fiber and forms a curved region of radiation localization at the end of the fiber, that is, a photonic "hook". Simulations have shown that such a curved blade has a length of up to 3 millimeters, its thickness is about 500 microns (for comparison, 100 microns is the thickness of a human hair) at a wavelength of 1550 nanometers. That is, we add one small element without affecting in any way the general design of the device and the principle of its operation, and we get changes only in the area of the end of the fiber (at the tip). The shape and thickness of the blade is changing: it is approximately two times thinner than the axisymmetric version,”explains Igor Minin. In the published article, the researchers presented a theoretical basis for the concept, and now they are preparing to confirm it experimentally. Experiments will take place at the National Yang-Ming University (Taiwan). Material provided by the press service of the Tomsk Polytechnic University