Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Temperature Distribution in Layered Tissue Media Due to Short Pulse Laser Irradiation

Use of short pulse laser for minimally invasive therapeutic treatment has become an indispensable tool in the technological arsenal of modern medicine and biomedical engineering. The objective of this paper is to analyze both numerically and experimentally the heat affected zone in tissue phantoms irradiated with a mode-locked short pulse laser source. It is only by being able to predict reliably the resultant temperature field that necessary dose for desired therapeutic outcomes can be ensured. A multi layer model of the skin consisting of the outer skin layer (epidermis), the lower layer (dermis) and fatty tissue underneath is considered in this study. Each layer of tissue has different optical properties. The experimentally measured temperature profiles for layered phantoms are compared with the homogenous phantoms using the non-Fourier hyperbolic and Fourier parabolic heat conduction model.