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Effects of Laser-Cutting in Muscle Tissue Biomechanics

Undergraduate #326
Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Biomedical Engineering

Jamilisse Segarra-Villafane - University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus
Co-Author(s): Lars Mattison and Paul Iaizzo, University of Minnesota, MN



Laser technologies have advanced surgical procedures in precision and accuracy. However, the effects of laser cutting on tissue biomechanics of surrounding skeletal and smooth muscle are unknown. Our laboratory is interested in understanding how the modality of cutting affects the biomechanical properties of the muscle tissue and using this knowledge to predict tissue behavior and development. We are interested in determining whether the tensile strength of muscle is compromised after laser cutting. Muscle biopsies were taken from a York-X swine. Tissue samples were then cut using a carbon dioxide laser system or scalpel. Equal number of bundles were dissected for both the laser cut and hand dissected groups. After cutting, the tissue was pulled to failure with a tensile test to measure the biomechanical properties of the muscle fibers. The data showed that the rectus had an ultimate tensile strength of 0.0743±0.0542 N/mm2 and 0.0842±0.0542 N/mm2 (p=0.30) when using the laser and scalpel respectively. For the diaphragm values of 0.0728±0.1028 N/mm2 with the laser and 0.0625±0.0473 N/mm2 (p=0.67) with the scalpel were obtained. Finally, the esophagus had values of 0.3943±0.2239 N/mm2 and 0.4308±0.1999 N/mm2 (p=0.52) for the laser and scalpel. These results showed that there is an insignificant difference in the ultimate tensile strength per cross-sectional area in the muscle bundles when we change the modality of cutting for both smooth and skeletal muscle. Thus, laser technology is an effective tool for surgical procedures since they do not alter the tensile strength of the muscle fibers in the tissue.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): Funding for this work was provided by NIH in Heart, Lung and Blood, Medtronic, NSF and LSSURP in University of Minnesota.

Faculty Advisor: Paul Iaizzo, iaizz001@umn.edu

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

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