Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the involuntary leakage of urine during physical activity caused by bladder pressure exceeding urethral closure pressure. Slings are commonly used as a surgical treatment for SUI. However, the sling procedure is invasive and inserted into the body, resulting in mesh infection and chronic pain. The current study aims to evaluate the feasibility of laser treatment for SUI by using 980nm laser light with a balloon-integrated diffusing applicator as a minimally invasive and non-permanent procedure. A female porcine urethra was dilated using a balloon, and then the tissue was irradiated with the 980nm laser at 20W for 15s. The laser irradiated urethra were harvested 0, 14 and 28 days after the laser irradiation, respectively. Both Masson’s trichrome and Sirius red staining were applied to confirm structural changes and collagen distribution. There was no change in mucosal thickness between the laser irradiation group and the control group. In the laser irradiation group, the thickness of the muscle layer increased by approximately 35%, compared to the control group. Furthermore, the laser irradiation group showed a 30% increase in collagen distribution in the external urethral sphincter compared to the SUI model. The current study demonstrated the feasibility of the therapeutic effect of the 980nm laser in the porcine urethra. To confirm the safety and efficacy of the proposed photothermal treatment, we will conduct in vivo studies to assess the extent of nerve damage and molecular changes using PCR assays in chronic and disease-induced animal models.
Several therapeutic effects of photobiomodultion (PBM) on variable mucosal lesions of the upper aerodigestive tract has been reported. However, the biomodulatory effect of PBM are rarely reported on tracheostomy and tracheal fenestration, which has been increased with the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In this study, we developed a translaryngeal PBM therapy by using a basket-integrated diffusing applicator (BIDA) to ameliorate the wound healing of fenestrated tracheostoma after surgery. Tracheostomy was performed by using an electrocautery unit (Bovie) to develop an in vivo porcine model of fenestrated tracheostoma with impaired wounds. A 635 nm laser light (200 mW/cm2 for 3 min, 36 J/cm2) was applied to the wounds by using BIDA once daily for five days. BIDA was inserted in tracheostomy tube and emitted homogeneous circumferential light into the fenestrated wound without thermal damage. Control highly induced fibrotic expressions of alpha-smooth muscle actin and type-1 collagen with acute inflammation. In contrast, PBM reduced the expressions up to less than 82% of control. Histological scores presented that PBM significantly decreased acute inflammation and overgranulation to two-thirds of control with a small portion of abscess. In addition, a substantial difference in the lumen area was observed between the control and PBM due to the thickened wall. The current study demonstrated that the proposed PBM therapy could ameliorate the impaired wound healing of fenestrated tracheostoma as a result of modulated inflammation and fibrotic responses. Therefore, the translaryngeal PBM with BIDA can be an effective adjuvant therapy for managing the fenestrated wound after tracheostomy.
Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the unintentional loss of urine. Currently, catheter and artificial urinary sphincters are applied for SUI treatment. However, these treatments are invasive and require continuous usage. While Er:YAG and CO2 lasers are used as a minimal or non-invasive method, their treatment effects are limited to the superficial vaginal tissue and can often cause severe burns, leading to tissue destruction. The purpose of this study to investigate the feasibility of non-ablative 980-nm laser treatment for SUI. Numerical simulations were performed to confirm thermal effects in urethral tissue by employing the Pennes bioheat transfer and partial differential equations. Rabbit urethral tissue was used for experimental validations. A non-compliant balloon was used to expand the urethral tissue, and the 980 nm laser light was irradiated on the tissue at 20 W for 15 s. After the laser irradiation, the treated samples were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE) to evaluate any physical changes in the overall urinary structure. Masson trichrome (MT) staining was performed to analyze the extent of thermal injury in the collagen of the urethral tissue. A uniform and symmetrical temperature distribution was observed around the balloon surface in the simulation. The numerical simulations and experiments indicated that mucosal and muscle layers in the urethral tissue reached the temperatures of 24 °C and 31 °C, respectively. Histology analysis presented the overall urinary structure with a total outer diameter of 10 mm from the mucosal layer to the muscle layer. The MT staining revealed that both control and treated groups had similar amounts of collagen components without thermal damage. The current study demonstrated that the non-ablative 980 nm laser could warrant an effective method of treating SUI with no or minimal thermal damage.
Cervical cancer is a fatal disease with over 50% of modality rate. Although chemo and external beam (EB) radiation are used for cancer treatment, radiation therapy has a limited effect and toxicity. Interstitial-photodynamic therapy (I-PDT) is a promising method for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). However, there are still challenges to reducing the totoxicity of photosensitizer and improving photoactivation. Thus, we propose a sodium copper chlorophyll (SCC), organic compound, as a photosensitizer. The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of SCC as a photosensitizer, and develop an effective LACC treatment through SCC mediated I-PDT. The proposed therapy was evaluated on human cervical carcinoma cells and HeLa xenograft tumor models. After SCC injection (4 μg/ml and 0.1 g/kg), a 405 nm blue light (BL; 800 mW/cm2) was applied using a frontal (EB-PDT) and diffusing (I-PDT) fiber. SCC or BL was hardly cytotoxic (less than 10%) on cancer cells independently, whereas SCC mediated PDT rapidly and strongly reduced the viability. High intensity of ROS was measured within 20 min after treatment. In addition, SCC mediated PDT stimulated the expressions of cleaved caspase 3, 8, and 9 with downregulated pro-caspase. Moreover, the proposed I-PDT decreased tumor size by up to 37% less than EB-PDT with minimal thermal damage around tissue. The current study demonstrated the potential antitumor effect of SCC mediated I-PDT in human cervical carcinoma cell and xenograft tumor model as a result of biocompatible photosensitizer and improved photoactivation. Therefore, SCC mediated I-PDT can warrant an effective treatment of LACC.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.