HIGH REPETITION RATE ERBIUM: YAG LASER FOR TISSUE ABLATION

摘要

A medical laser system (10) is disclosed for ablating biological material. The system includes an Erbium: YAG gain medium (24) capable of generating a pulsed output having a wavelength of 2.9 microns. The laser is optimized to generate a pulsed output having a repetition rate of at least 50 hertz and preferably at least 100 hertz. The output is delivered to the target tissue via an optical fiber (82). Preferably, a suction source is provided to aspirate the tissue as it is being ablated. The erbium laser system provides accurate ablation with minimal damage to surrounding tissue.