Lasers in Medical Science

, Volume 8, Issue 3, pp 185–196 | Cite as

Thermal damage of blood vessels in a rat skin-flap window chamber using indocyanine green and a pulsed alexandrite laser: A feasibility study

  • Stephen T. Flock
  • Steven L. Jacques
Article
Received:

Abstract

The design criteria and feasibility of specifically targeting blood vessels for thermal damage by using a pulsed alexandrite infra-red laser to heat an intravascularly injected infra-redabsorbing dye, namely indocyanine green (ICG), is demonstrated. Theoretical calculations map the distribution of light and heat in and around the subcutaneous blood vessels in a rat skin-flap window chamber as functions of dye concentration, vessel size, and vessel depth. Theoretical calculations showed that an injected dose of 6–24 mgkg−1 of ICG and a 120-μs, 1-J cm−2 alexandrite laser pulse at a wavelength of 785 nm would be sufficient to achieve selective vascular damage to a depth of at least 0.15 cm. Feasibility experiments were performed which illustrated that an irradiation of 1.27 J cm−2 of skin flaps in uninjected control rats showed no evidence of vascular damage while vascular damage was seen in skin flaps using an experimental protocol of 12 mg kg−1 i.v. of ICG and an energy fluence of 0.76 J cm−2. This procedure could conceivably prove useful in the treatment of vascular lesions or cancer.

Key words

Alexandrite Blood vessels Indocyanine green Lasers Photothermolysis Thermal damage Vascular lesions Window-chamber skin-flap 
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Copyright information

© Baillière Tindall 1993

Authors and Affiliations

  • Stephen T. Flock
    • 1
  • Steven L. Jacques
    • 2
  1. 1.Phillips Classic Biomedical Laser Research Laboratory, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck SurgeryUniversity of Arkansas for Medical SciencesLittle RockUSA
  2. 2.Laser Biology Research LaboratoryUniversity of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer CenterTXHoustonUSA

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