Investigation of Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) for the Differentiation of Nerve and Gland Tissue—A Possible Application for a Laser Surgery Feedback Control Mechanism

Laser surgery provides clean, fast and accurate modeling of tissue. However, the inability to determine what kind of tissue is being ablated at the bottom of the cut may lead to the iatrogenic damage of structures that were meant to be preserved. In this context, nerve preservation is one of the key challenges in any surgical procedure. One example is the treatment of parotid gland pathologies, where the facial nerve (N. VII) and its main branches run through and fan out inside the glands parenchyma. A feedback system that automatically stops the ablation to prevent nerve-tissue damage could greatly increase the applicability and safety of surgical laser systems. In the present study, Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is used to differentiate between nerve and gland tissue of an ex-vivo pig animal model. The LIBS results obtained in this preliminary experiment suggest that the measured spectra, containing atomic and molecular emissions, can be used to differentiate between the two tissue types. The measurements and differentiation were performed in open air and under normal stray light conditions.