Welding Arti¯cial Biomaterial with a Pulsed Diode Laser and

Laser tissue welding is a sutureless method of wound closure that has been used successfully in nerve, skin, and arterial anastomoses. We welded an elastin-based biomaterial that elicits minimal foreign body reaction to the intimal surface of porcine aorta. The aorta was stained with indocyanine green dye to e±ciently absorb the 808 nm diode laser light. Laser welding with a pulsed diode laser thermally con¯nes heating to stained portion of tissue, minimizing adjacent tissue damage. Laser welds of stained aorta to biomaterial were attempted by sandwiching the samples between glass slides and applying pressures ranging from 4{20 N/cm2 for 5 ms pulse durations and 83 mJ/mm2 radiant exposure. Welds were successful for pressure above 5 N/cm2. Transmission measurements of stained aorta were made using radiant exposures of 6{129 mJ/mm2 using pulse durations of 0.5{5 ms. Transmission increases and reaches a maximum of 80{85 % with successive pulses for radiant exposure greater than 26 mJ/mm2 for a spot size of 9 mm2 and 13 mJ/mm2 for a spot size of 36 mm2. 1