Efficiency of ablation of atherosclerotic platelets by XeCl laser radiation

An experimental investigation was made of the efficiency of ablation of atherosclerotic platelets in water by XeCl laser radiation when the radiation energy density was within the range 0.3–8 J/cm². In this range the ablation efficiency increased by two orders of magnitude first nonlinearly and then linearly. The characteristic energy densities found by extrapolation of the linear region were 1.5±0.2 J/cm² for fibrous platelets and 3.3±0.4 J/cm² for calcified platelets. The behavior of these dependences and the characteristic energy densities were in agreement with estimates of thermal tissue damage.