Lasers for Medical Applications: Diagnostics, Therapy and Surgery (Woodhead Publishing Series in Electronic and Optical Materials)

Lasers have become an indispensable medical tool and new techniques and treatments involving them are being pioneered all the time. The editor and contributors begin by looking at the response of tissue to laser light. They then outline the types of lasers used in medicine, including solid-state, gas, dye and semiconductor lasers and discuss the use of lasers for diagnostics, such as optical coherence tomography, laser spectroscopy in biomedicine and optical biopsy. The final section is dedicated to applications of lasers in therapy and surgery, covering various medical fields including dermatology, urology, gynecology, ophthalmology, dentistry and neurology and concludes with a look at laser safety. Lasers have a wide and growing range of applications in medicine. Lasers for Medical Applications summarises the wealth of recent research on the principles, technologies and application of lasers in diagnostics, therapy and surgery.

Part one gives an overview of the use of lasers in medicine, key principles of lasers and radiation interactions with tissue. To understand the wide diversity and therefore the large possible choice of these devices for a specific diagnosis or treatment, the respective types of the laser (solid state, gas, dye, and semiconductor) are reviewed in part two. Part three describes diagnostic laser methods, for example optical coherence tomography, spectroscopy, optical biopsy, and time-resolved fluorescence polarization spectroscopy. Those methods help doctors to refine the scope of involvement of the particular body part or, for example, to specify the extent of a tumor. Part four concentrates on the therapeutic applications of laser radiation in particular branches of medicine, including ophthalmology, dermatology, cardiology, urology, gynecology, otorhinolaryngology (ORL), neurology, dentistry, orthopaedic surgery and cancer therapy, as well as laser coatings of implants. The final chapter includes the safety precautions with which the staff working with laser instruments must be familiar.

With its distinguished editor and international team of contributors, this important book summarizes international achievements in the field of laser applications in medicine in the past 50 years. It provides a valuable contribution to laser medicine by outstanding experts in medicine and engineering.

• Describes the interaction of laser light with tissue
• Reviews every type of laser used in medicine: solid state, gas, dye and semiconductor
• Describes the use of lasers for diagnostics

Lasers have a wide and growing range of applications in medicine. Lasers for Medical Applications summarises the wealth of recent research on the principles, technologies and application of lasers in diagnostics, therapy and surgery. Part one gives an overview of the use of lasers in medicine, key principles of lasers and radiation interactions with tissue. To understand the wide diversity and therefore the large possible choice of these devices for a specific diagnosis or treatment, the respective types of the laser (solid state, gas, dye, and semiconductor) are reviewed in part two. Part three describes diagnostic laser methods, for example optical coherence tomography, spectroscopy, optical biopsy, and time-resolved fluorescence polarization spectroscopy. Those methods help doctors to refine the scope of involvement of the particular body part or, for example, to specify the extent of a tumor. Part four concentrates on the therapeutic applications of laser radiation in particular branches of medicine, including ophthalmology, dermatology, cardiology, urology, gynecology, otorhinolaryngology (ORL), neurology, dentistry, orthopaedic surgery and cancer therapy, as well as laser coatings of implants. The final chapter includes the safety precautions with which the staff working with laser instruments must be familiar. With its distinguished editor and international team of contributors, this important book summarizes international achievements in the field of laser applications in medicine in the past 50 years. It provides a valuable contribution to laser medicine by outstanding experts in medicine and engineering.