Histological evaluation of artifacts in tongue tissue produced by the CO2 laser and the electrotome.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical usefulness of laser surgery in pathologic diagnosis following excisional biopsy of human oral mucosa by CO(2) laser and electrotome. BACKGROUND DATA When performing pathologic diagnosis and microscopic analysis of specimens excised by the CO(2) laser, there have been concerns about thermal denaturation of the excisional margin that may prevent diagnosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS Thirty tongue tissue samples from humans that were surgically resected using a CO(2) laser (continuous wave mode for 10 cases and pulse wave mode for 10 cases) and an electrotome (10 cases) were formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded. These preserved specimens were then cut into thick sections and subjected to hematoxylin and eosin staining followed by microscopic assessment. RESULTS Despite the differences between the CO(2) laser and electrotome methods, similar thermal denaturation, such as carbonization, vacuolar degeneration, and elongation of nuclei, were observed at the excisional margins for both methods. Use of the CO(2) laser, particularly in pulse wave mode, reduced the amount of thermal denaturation significantly (p < 0.01) compared to the electrotome. CONCLUSION These results indicate that the CO(2) laser is better than the electrotome as a means of making excisions for performing pathologic diagnosis.