It will use a two-laser system to detect and remove the dead tissue almost simultaneously down to the cellular level. The idea is to avoid the needless removal of healthy tissue, a problem with today s methods. We are aware of a prototype laser system that scans a burn area, determines the laser power requirements, and then removes a layer of the dead tissue, repeating the process until the area is clean, Allgood says. The problem is that the patient may move between the imaging and the d briding. Our laser system will work almost instantly, so the patient will be in the same position between tissue mapping and removal.
Laser light is reflected differently from burned tissue than from normal tissue.
Laser light of a certain frequency is reflected back from hemoglobin in a characteristic pattern that differs from that of light scattered from dead tissue. They have determined the differences in reflection patterns for simulated dead and healthy skin and recorded them in a data base for the proposed laser treatment system. They have prepared an algorithm that would compare the real-time laser light reflection patterns gathered by the optical components with the stored data. The instant information will enable a computer to construct a three-dimensional image map that shows where dead tissue meets the healthy blood layer below the burn. Using the lidar map, the computer will precisely guide a pulsed laser in a less traumatic burning of the dead tissue, leaving the healthy tissue intact.