Ex vivo laser thermoplasty of whole costal cartilages.

Background And Objective: To examine the possibilities of laser thermoplasty of whole costal cartilages for correction the human congenital chest wall deformities.

Study Design/materials And Methods: Ex vivo the samples of porcine costal cartilages were heated with lasers of differing wavelengths, including a 0.97-μm diode laser, a 1.