Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2008

Mentor: Jeffrey Kenkel, MD
Department: Plastic Surgery
Room number: WA4.216
Mail Code: 9132
Phone number: 214-645-3112
E-mail: Jeffrey.kenkel@utsouthwestern.edu
Project title: Evaluation of the histopathology of CO2 ablative lasers

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): 082007-075

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Project Type: patient-based research

Brief Description of Project:

Fractional CO2 ablative treatments are an exciting new wave of laser treatment with the potential to affect deep dermal collagen and skin structure.

This study will evaluate the acute histopathological skin changes following treatment with two novice short pulse CO2 laser systems (Active and Deep Fx) using variations in clinical laser parameters (e.g. fluence, pulse width, repetition rate, density, number of pulses) alone and combination procedures on human abdominal skin, in-vivo. In addition, the biomechanical properties of these studies will be examined using a non-invasive cutometer [BTC2000, SRLI Inc,]

The panni of abdominoplasty patients will be treated with either the Active FX, the Deep FX(Lumenis Ltd., Yokneum, Israel), or a combination of the two (Total FX) prior to the start of the excisional surgical procedure. Multiple combinations of energies, pulse widths, and densities were evaluated for each device. After surgical removal (2-4hr) each pannus was immediately biopsied, and processed for histopathological evaluation using Hematoxylin & Eosin, and the TUNEL method.

Student will learn the histopathology of skin and various staining techniques as well as specimen preparation. The biomechanics of the skin will be determined and the effect of the histological changes will be correlated to the biomechanical endpoints.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

10+ years of mentoring medical students, residents and fellows.