Modelling heat impact on human hard and soft tissue in pulsed laser ablation

"This is a PhD research project in mechanical engineering, specifically tissue biomechanics.
Background: Cancer or musculoskeletal diseases affect millions of people in ageing societies worldwide. Modern treatment strategies, especially in pre-metastatic stages, often employ resections, which are carried out using minimal invasive access procedures. Laser ablation based dissection is supposed to be a "cold" process with minimal impact on the surrounding tissue. Likewise, laser ablation is used to prepare micron-sized biopsies that, in turn, inform the development of new treatment technologies in preclinical research. However, little is known about the heat impact on the material during the ablation process for the diverse range of tissues that may be potentially treated.

Project: Therefore, this project aims at developing a technology that allows to investigating the heat impact during pulsed laser ablation on different tissues specific to clinical and pre-clinical application. An example could be laser ablation of liver metastases or brain tumour treatment. Key tasks include:

(i) develop a simulation suite, e.g. finite elements, to evaluate the heat impact of pulsed laser ablation on different hard and soft tissue based on initial work on bones extra-cellular matrix,

(ii) verify and validate the simulation suite,

(iii) use this simulation suite to identify a admissible operating parameters that do not damage surrounding material for clinical and pre-clinical challenges.

Impact: If successful, this project will have a direct, positive impact on minimal invasive surgery technologies. In addition, the results will impact state of the art preparation strategies for micromechanical testing."