Medical Applications
Fundamental Limits to Minimally Invasive Surgery and Biodiagnostics
This subgroup is taking advantage of the new insights into strongly driven phase transitions based on the very first “molecular movies” in which the relative atomic motions were captured faster than collisional diffusive processes (see Siwick et al Science 2003). This work showed that for sufficient superheating rates, the phase transition propagates through a process known as homogeneous nucleation (melting from the inside out) rather than the normal everyday occurrence of heterogeneous nucleation (melting from the outside in). Most important, for sufficiently fast superheating, the nucleation sites are confined solely to nearest neighbor disordering or only 10 atoms per nucleation site. This single observation may seem of only esoteric interest, however, it has to be realized that explosive nucleation growth and resulting cavitation induced shock waves is what causes massive collateral damage in surgery. By using short enough pulses, but not so short to lead to peak powers that result in plasma formation and ionizing radiation effects, it is possible to effectively completely eliminate nucleation growth and cavitation problems in ablating material. This new insight was explicitly exploited in the development of a new class of solid state mid IR laser systems that are tuned to the vibrational stretch of water, which has an extremely strong absorption band, absorptivity in excess of 104 cm-1. Tissue is made of 60–70% water such that effectively the water is energized by the absorption of the IR that effectively goes directly into translational motion through the strong hydrogen bonding within the water. The water acts like a propellant to drive everything within the absorption volume that is above the phase transition into the gas phase faster than even collisional exchange with the constituent protein matrix and without nucleation formation (beyond a few molecules) and cavitation induced shock waves. Even the sound fields or thermally driven acoustic modes that are generated by the ablation process are in the 100–10 GHz range, which are so strongly attenuated at this high frequency that even this normal loss mechanism goes into driving the ablation.
The laser system specifically designed to exploit this new atomic insight is referred to as the Picosecond InfraRed Laser (PIRL) scalpel.
Meet the people behind The SUREPIRL Project
Basically, the laser system pulse parameters were developed to match the impulse response function of liquid water under strong enough superheating to ensure that the laser driven phase transition (liquid to gas) and ablation forces drive the phase transition process at the spinoidal decomposition point and sufficiently fast that at this point the nucleation sites are only 5–10 water molecules, as described above. The ensuing phase explosion occurs in the homogeneous nucleation limit where the degree of homogeneity extends uniformly throughout the lattice. It is extremely important that the laser pulses used to achieve this fundamental limit to the phase transition dynamics are short enough to achieve this goal but long enough in duration to avoid peak powers that will lead to multiphoton ionization and plasma formation. The group did some earlier studies on laser surgery with femtosecond laser pulses (multiphoton ionization and plasma formation). We found fantastically sharp boundaries for the laser cutting but retarded healing. The net effect is a massive dose of ionizing radiation that kills adjacent cells so cleanly that normal healing processes are not initiated by the damage. This observation pointed out the serious problem in using such a highly ionizing source. (If you don’t like ionizing radiation effects from x-rays, think about removing a pound a flesh by such a highly ionizing radiation source.) We knew at the time that PIRL would represent the fundamental upper limit to minimal invasive laser surgery. Water has a much lower boiling point in its phase diagram relative to all other local parameters for the constituent tissue matrix. By selectively targeting water, we could drive the phase transition fast enough to avoid explosive nucleation and cavitation induced shock waves. Fast enough to avoid any energy transport and damage to surrounding tissue. The ablation physics are such that the material removal is actually faster than thermal transport and even acoustic transport of energy out of the excited zone. In addition, the whole process occurs on timescales faster than collisional energy exchange of energy of the highly excited water and constituent proteins. These effects along with the extremely short penetration depth (perfectly matched to the thickness of a single cell) ensure that PIRL would leave the least amount of collateral damage fundamentally possible. However, we did not expect that the damage would be so minimal that there would be essential no scar tissue formation. The healing process is triggered but it only involves the adjacent cells without any the highly entangled fibroblast formation from damage zones nearly 1 mm from the cut. This mottled formation of fibroblasts is what we call scar tissue. We observed perfect healing with far less protein signaling for healing pathways in comparing to the gold standard scalpel. PIRL represents the first means to execute surgery without scar tissue formation. It is the scar tissue buildup and blocked restructuring of tissue that leads to loss in function for all surgeries to date. One can well imagine that the ability to cut tissue without scar tissue formation will have many applications in plastic/cosmetic surgery. (Right now we can make beautiful mice and are moving forward to tissue models closer to humans). However, the real tangible improvements in surgical outcomes will be seen in procedures requiring high precision and need to avoid scar tissue formation. Important applications in neurosurgery, vocal cord repair, microcholea implants for hearing, and restructuring of critical vasculature are readily envisaged.
This subgroup is charged with advancing the laser technology, beam delivery, and surgical tools to take PIRL into the operating room (OR). We are also exploring robotics as the accuracy of PIRL is well beyond the ability of even the most skilled surgeon.
In addition to surgical applications, PIRL ejects intact proteins into the gas phase completely intact and in their native conformation, as confirmed by mass spectral analysis of the ablation process. This observation may turn out to the most important of all. We now have a matrix independent means to eject entire proteins into the gas phase intact, as an essential step for using mass spectroscopy for protein detection. Mass spectroscopy is based on charged particle detection, which in principle can attain single molecule detection limits. There are methods such as electrospray and MALDI that can also introduce proteins into the gas phase. However, the ion collection efficiency is typically less than 10-5 and the ensuing ionization physics (coulomb explosion of charged droplets in the electrospray case and proton exchange under super heated conditions of MALDI) lead to highly nonlinear signals and signal suppression of multiple component systems. MS analysis presently is the most sensitive method for biodiagnostics (without need of labels) but nevertheless requires purification of sample and extremely time intensive preparation steps. PIRL opens up the door to in situ mass spec based biodiagnostics. The group is developing a new imaging mass spec system specifically designed to take advantage of the unique attributes of PIRL in quantitative introduction of proteins into the gas phase without signal suppression. This is an exciting development as in principle it should be possible to approach nearly 100% ion collection efficiencies with proper ion optics coupled to the PIRL ablation process.
The group is working to advance PIRL and Mass spectroscopy (referred to as Desorption by Impulsive Vibrational Excitation (DIVE-MS)) towards the fundamental limit of single protein detection for biodiagnostics. Such a development will speed up biodiagnostics by orders of magnitude (less time required for sample preparation, much less sample required) and can be used in tandem with laser surgery to provide molecular feedback in real time to surgeons to guide surgery. Surgeons currently rely solely on tactile and visual feedback of the operating field. Soon they will have a new sense to guide them – “smell”. The PIRL-DIVE-MS is effectively a molecular nose that will give surgeons an intact molecular signature of the tissue being excised.
All of these potential applications came from the fundamental research program directed at giving an atomic level view of structural transitions. It is a testimony to the importance of basic research. One can never predict where new insights will lead, just that the views will be wonderful to behold.