Integrative Applications of General and Medical Physics With Laser Technologies in Precision Diagnostics and Therapy

Non-invasive biomedical research and diagnostics enabled by innovative compact lasers. For over half a century, laser technology has undergone a technological revolution. These technologies, particularly semiconductor lasers, are employed in a myriad of fields. Optical medical diagnostics, one of the emerging areas of laser application, are on the forefront of application around the world. Optical methods of non- or minimally invasive bio-tissue investigation offer significant advantages over alternative methods, including rapid real-time measurement, non-invasiveness and high resolution. These advantages demonstrate the growing success of such techniques. Will outline the recent status of laser technology applied in the biomedical field, focusing on various available approaches, particularly utilising compact semiconductor lasers. Will further consider the advancement and integration of several complimentary biophotonic techniques into single multimodal devices. Will demonstrate the easy and convenient operation of the device as well as the possibility to automatically process the collected data and determine tissue pathological status. Based on own studies, will also cover the simultaneous collection of physiological data with the aid of a multifunctional diagnostics system, concentrating on the optimisation of the new technology toward a clinical application. Such data is invaluable for developing algorithms capable of delivering consistent, reliable and meaningful diagnostic information, which can ultimately be employed for the early diagnosis of disease conditions.

Lasers are used today more and more in therapy and diagnostics. In diagnostics, they are used additional to other procedures like metabolic monitoring resp. for optical imaging. Main topic of medical applications therapy, in which laser is sometimes a surgical instrument sometimes a central, alone standing therapeutic procedure. But it is forgotten that laser is light, a special light, but the biological reactions are in general not different from normal light. This is important to prevent disappointments on the other to use the experience of photobiology and light therapy. In medicine, laser is used since his invention mostly destructive but nature uses light since billion of years mainly constructive. So lasers are used not only for cutting and removal on surfaces the application is more complex. This is caused by a continuous technical development of laser systems and accessories, like endoscops, but more important is the better knowledge about laser-tissue-interaction. The field of application is broad, there are daily new indications but other are replaced by the development of other techniques. The indications are from plastic surgery over the congenital and vascular diseases to open surgical organ and tumor resections. Very important is laser in endoscopic surgery and in interstitial laser coagulation. But in contrast to thermal procedures, the indication for photo dynamic therapy are dysplasias and virus-induced tumors.