Search

Threshold measurements at 90 femtoseconds (fs) and 600 fs have been made for minimum visible lesions (MVLs) using Dutch Belted rabbit and Rhesus monkey eyes. Laser induced breakdown (LIB) thresholds on biological materials including vitreous, normal saline, tap water, and ultrapure water are reported along with irradiance calculations utilizing nonlinear transmission properties including self-focusing. At both pulsewidths the ED50 dose required for the Rhesus monkey eye was less than half the value determined for the Dutch Belted rabbit eye, all thresholds being 1 microjoule ((mu) J) or less. Measurements on the Rhesus eye at 600 fs found the ED50 dose (0.26 (mu) J) to be much lower than the ED50 dose at 90 fs (0.43 (mu) J). But for these two pulsewidths, almost the same energy level was determined for the Dutch Belted rabbit eye (0.94 (mu) J vs. 1.0 (mu) J). LIB threshold measurements at 100 fs and 300 fs using a simulated eye with isolated vitreous found the ED50 dosages to be 3.5 and 6.0 (mu) J respectively. We found in all cases that the ED50 dosages required to produce MVLs in 24 hours for rabbit and monkey eyes were less than the ED50 values measured for LIB in vitreous or saline or any other breakdown values reported. Also observed was the fact that many of the threshold lesions did not appear in the 1-hour postexposure check but clearly showed up at the 24-hour reading which provided for a much lower threshold dose after 24 hours. We discuss the energy levels and peak powers at which nonlinear effects can begin to occur.

We present our clinical evaluation of hemorrhagic and non-hemorrhagic 90 fs single pulses in rabbits and primates. The rabbit and primate eye present unique in vivo models for evaluation of retinal and choroidal laser induced hemorrhages with distinct differences in their retinal anatomy. We found two different hemorrhagic events to occur in the posterior pole with delivery of 90 fs pulses. First, in the Dutch Belted rabbit, we found large amounts of energy per pulse (from 20 to 60 times ED50) were required for formation of subretinal hemorrhages. Second, in the Rhesus monkey, we found significant numbers of small intraretinal hemorrhages from relatively low energy 90 fs pulses. Both the Dutch Belted rabbit and the Rhesus monkey failed to consistently show subretinal hemorrhagic lesions form very high pulse energies. Our findings suggest more energy absorption at the level of the retinal circulation than the choroidal circulation with our pulse parameters. The effects of the laser on the retinal circulation may be due to the use of a wavelength of 580 nm. At this wavelength the oxyhemoglobin to melanin absorption ratio is nearly at its peak (approximately 0.40), perhaps allowing improved absorption in the retinal vasculature. One precaution with this finding, however, are the distinct differences between primate and non-primate ocular systems. Further studies are required to resolve the differences in damage at the level of the RPE and choroid between rabbits and primates.

Recent studies of retinal damage due to ultrashort laser pulses have shown interesting behavior. Supra-threshold hemorrhagic lesions could not previously be produced with high pulse energy, sub-100 fs pulses, leading to the speculation that nonlinear optical phenomena might mediate these effects. To determine what effect self-focusing will have on laser propagation in the eye, we include this nonlinear phenomena in a calculation of the focal plane position and spot size in the eye as a function of incident power. Light is propagated through the components of the eye using ABCD matrices. The nonlinearity is included using the values for the nonlinear refractive indices for ocular components measured in our laboratory and the diffraction term scaling transformation. We examine how nonlinear propagation changes the irradiance at the retina for nanosecond, picosecond and femtosecond laser pulses with pulse energies near the minimum visible lesion (MVL) threshold for retinal damage. We find that self-focusing can substantially decrease the spot size and increase laser irradiance at the retina. We discuss possible effects this might have on retinal damage.