Laser Surgery and Medicine

Abstract

Lasers have contributed enormously to the advancement on evolution of medicine, taking another step in the march towards and improved therapeutic condition. The Argon and frequency-doubled YAG-KTP lasers both produce a green wavelength of light that can be delivered through an optical fiber. Recently some researchers use the Er: YAG laser for clinics. Short pulses from the Er: YAG have an ablative effect with little thermal damage. And also the Er: YAG offers a superior cutting tool when longer pulses are used. The Ho: YAG laser ablation with the contact irradiation method has been employed for laser angioplasty and various other clinical therapies due to the capability of the silica fiber delivery and tissue ablation. The remarkable advances and emerging technologies have been appeared in Research and developments of high-power dioed laser. They have already achieved the maximum output to approximately 60W by diode laser. Some manufactures developed the medical systems based on the tunable laser crystal, titanium-doped sapphire. This medium lasers in the range 850-1000nm. Frequency-conversion techniques, including a proprietary method of extending the range in the infrared, are expected to yield a device that tunes from 325-3000nm. This widely tunable laser may be the basis for a “universal” surgical tool that suits a variety of applications. The Japanese manufacturer (IHI Co.) developed new tunable laser consisting of YAG-OPO (Optical Prametric Oscillator) which could tune from 410-2650nm wavelength.