Quantitative determination of sub-ablative thermal exposure producing optimal response of collagenous tissues

Sub-ablative thermal exposure is applied clinically to stabilize joints by taking advantage of the fact that such heating causes collagenous tissues to shrink. Unfortunately heating also generally causes tissue material properties to degrade, owing to the denaturation of the collagen network. The literature reveals that different modalities of heating such as laser and radiofrequency modes create different amounts of shrinkage and varying levels of thermal damage (mechanical property degradation) within the target tissue. The relationship between shrinkage and denaturation is poorly understood, limiting the rational design of such thermal therapies. In the present research, a preliminary thermomechanical modeling capable of predicting the final state of a collagenous tissue undergoing sub-ablative heating is presented. The hybrid methodology utilized includes in-vitro experimentation and finite element analysis. It has been shown that the proposed methodology has excellent potential as a tool in simulating and determining the optimal responses of collagenous tissues when they are subjected to sub-ablative thermal treatments.