Ablation of human atherosclerotic plaque by 193 and 248 nm wavelength nanosecond delivered laser energy

Ablation of human atherosclerotic plaque by laser energy was first suggested and attempted on human necropsy material by McGuff and associates in 1963. (1) Almost a generation passed before the next attempts were made (2-7). These studies demonstrated that the soft, organic portions of atheroscleroptic plaque can readily be vaporized by almost any of the currently commercially available “medical” lasers, argon, Nd-YAG, or CO2. Encouraged by this initial experimental success, the method was tried on humans, but thrombosis occurred quickly in a high percentage of patients. (8,9)