Dynamic Modeling of Tissue Ablation with Continuous Wave CO2 Laser

To better understand the process of CO
₂
laser tissue ablation, a dynamic model was proposed, which consisted of (1) calculations of temperature distribution using finite difference heat transfer model and thermal damage distribution using Arrhenius equation, (2) a procedure of dividing laser-irradiated tissue into multi-zones according to the temperature and thermal damage distribution, and (3) calculations of variable parameters of each zone. Simulations were performed with a laser power of 10 W/mm
²
. Evolutions of the surface temperature and each zone were obtained. The results of this study indicate our model is a powerful tool for improving the understandings of laser tissue ablation.