Lasers in surgery and medicine
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We propose a new assessment tool to diagnose severe ischemia of the lower limb in peripheral arterial disease, using laser speckle contrast imaging to evaluate heating-induced microcirculatory fluctuations in the proximal and distal sites of the dorsal foot. ⋯ Both transcutaneous oxygen tension and the laser speckle contrast imaging thermal load test are useful in diagnosing severe ischemia in the foot. Lasers Surg. Med. 49:645-651, 2017. © 2017. The Authors. Lasers in Surgery and Medicine Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Fractional CO2 laser therapy has been used to improve scar pliability and appearance; however, a variety of treatment protocols have been utilized with varied outcomes. Understanding the relationship between laser power and extent of initial tissue ablation and time frame for remodeling could help determine an optimum power and frequency for laser treatment. The characteristics of initial injury caused by fractional CO2 laser treatment, the rates of dermal remodeling and re-epithelialization, and the extent of inflammation as a function of laser stacking were assessed in this study in a porcine scar model. ⋯ In the current study, the properties of the ablative zones were not directly proportional to the total amount of energy applied to the porcine scars with the use of triple stacking, resulting in only minor increases to microthermal zone (MTZ) depth and width versus a single pulse. Re-epithelialization and re-establishment of epidermal barrier function were observed in laser treated scars by 48 hours post therapy. Finally, many of the inflammatory genes up-regulated by the laser ablation returned to baseline within 1 week. As a whole, these results suggest that microthermal zones created by FXCO2 treatment re-epithelialize rapidly with the inflammatory response to the laser induced injury largely resolved within 1 week post treatment. Further study is needed to understand the relationship between laser stacking and MTZ properties in human scars in order to evaluate the clinical applicability of the stacking technique. Lasers Surg. Med. 49:675-685, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.