Surgical performance of a 405-nm diode laser in treatment of soft tissue

The study was conducted to evaluate the surgical performance of a 405-nm diode laser ex vivo. The experiments were carried out using tuna tissue, which was irradiated with a 405-nm diode laser at output powers of 400 mW (694 W/cm(2)) to 1 W (1735 W/cm(2)) on a motorized stage moving at a rate of 1 mm/sec. As a control, a 920-nm diode laser was used with the same irradiation conditions. After irradiation, the thickness of ablation and coagulation was measured by stereoscopic microscopy and evaluated statistically. Ablation and coagulation zones were obtained with 405-nm laser irradiation, but not with irradiation at 920 nm. Ablation depth increased significantly with output power and a thick coagulation zone was observed with 405-nm irradiation. The 405-nm diode laser performed well for incising and coagulating soft tissue at a low power density.