Characterisation of debris from laser and mechanical cutting of bone

Nikolaos Rachmanis; Garrett B McGuinness; Joseph A McGeough

doi:10.1177/0954411914541089

Characterisation of debris from laser and mechanical cutting of bone

Proc Inst Mech Eng H. 2014 Jul;228(7):735-9. doi: 10.1177/0954411914541089. Epub 2014 Jun 20.

Authors

Nikolaos Rachmanis¹, Garrett B McGuinness², Joseph A McGeough³

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
² School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.
³ School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK j.a.mcgeough@ed.ac.uk.

PMID: 24951627
DOI: 10.1177/0954411914541089

Abstract

Laser cutting of bones has been proposed as a technology in orthopaedic surgery. In this short study, the laser-bone interaction was examined using a pulsed erbium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet laser and compared to a conventional cutting technique. Microscopic analysis revealed the nature of waste debris and showed higher proportions of finer particles for conventional sagittal sawing compared to laser cutting.

Keywords: Biomedical devices; bone properties; medical lasers; orthopaedic procedures; surgical systems.

MeSH terms

Animals
Femur / cytology*
Femur / radiation effects
Femur / surgery*
In Vitro Techniques
Laser Therapy / instrumentation*
Laser Therapy / methods*
Lasers, Solid-State*
Osteotomy / methods*
Particle Size
Sheep