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Experimental investigations on thermal effects of a long-pulse alexandrite laser on blood vessels and its comparison with pulsed dye and Nd:YAG lasers

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Abstract

Laser has been widely used in the treatment of vascular skin diseases, such as port wine stain, due to the effect of selective photothermolysis in laser on biological tissue. The 755 nm alexandrite laser was expected to achieve better curative effect than the commonly used 585 or 595 nm pulsed dye laser (PDL) because of its deeper tissue penetration. In this study, the dorsal chamber model and microscopic visualization system were used to observe morphology changes on 42 blood vessels before and after irradiation with the 755 nm laser. Results showed that thermal effects of blood vessels intensified with the increase in energy, and high energy was required to produce the same thermal effect as the extension of pulse width. Different from 595 and 1064 nm lasers, partial vessel contraction was dominant thermal effect caused by the 755 nm laser. The bleeding injury rate and thermal effect of the 755 nm laser were between those of 595 nm PDL and 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser. The simulation results proved that 595 nm PDLs were effective for small and shallow target blood vessels. The 755 nm alexandrite lasers were effective in the treatment of hypertrophic and resistant blood vessels to PDL in the skin with low or moderate melanin concentration. The 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser was effective in the treatment of deeply buried and enlarged target blood vessels in the skin with high melanin concentration. The simulation results were supported by published clinical observations.

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Funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51727811).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Multiphase Flow in Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, Shaanxi, China

    D. Li, H. Zhang, B. Chen, Y. B. Zhao, W. J. Wu & Y. Yuan

  2. Laser Treatment Center, Department of Dermatology, 2nd affiliated hospital, Medical School, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710004, Shaanxi, China

    Z. X. Ying

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  1. D. Li
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  2. H. Zhang
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  3. B. Chen
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  4. Y. B. Zhao
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  5. W. J. Wu
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  6. Y. Yuan
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  7. Z. X. Ying
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Correspondence to B. Chen or Z. X. Ying.

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All procedures involving animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees of the Xi’an Jiaotong University.

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Li, D., Zhang, H., Chen, B. et al. Experimental investigations on thermal effects of a long-pulse alexandrite laser on blood vessels and its comparison with pulsed dye and Nd:YAG lasers. Lasers Med Sci 35, 1555–1566 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-020-02981-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-020-02981-9

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