Introduction
Photodisruption is the disruption of tissues due to the rapid ionization of molecules caused by exposure to laser light. It is a commonly used technique for performing minimally invasive intraocular surgery. The first clinical use of photodisruption was demonstrated in 1972, when photodisruption with a pulsed ruby laser was used to treat open-angle glaucoma. However, it was not until the development of Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers in the early 1980s that photodisruption became truly clinically useful.
Mechanism of Action
Biological tissue is not a very strong absorber of visible light; however, a tightly focused pulsed laser can produce very high intensity of light in the focal volume and result in the nonlinear absorption of the light. This absorption of energy causes the temperature in the focal volume to rise to ~10,000 K, resulting in the formation of plasma (via thermionic emission of electrons) which then expands through avalanche or cascade ionization. The rapid...
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Further Reading
Fankhauser F, Kwasniewska S (2003) Lasers in ophthalmology: basic, diagnostic and surgical aspects: a review. Kugler Publications, The Hague
Vogel A et al (1994a) Intraocular photodisruption with picosecond and nanosecond laser pulses: tissue effects in cornea, lens and retina. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 35(7):3032–3044
Vogel A et al (1994b) Mechanisms of intraocular photodisruption with picosecond and nanosecond pulses. Lasers Surg Med 15(1):32–43
Watanabe W et al (2004) Femtosecond laser disruption of subcellular organelles in a living cell. Opt Express 12(18):4203–4213
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Yadav, R. (2018). Photodisruption. In: Schmidt-Erfurth, U., Kohnen, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Ophthalmology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69000-9_651
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-69000-9_651
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