Laser-ultrasonic technologies for medicine

摘要

This review tackles the problem of further developing laser-ultrasonic medical technologies and gives the comparison of different laser and ultrasound combinations The features of combined influence on biotissue are explicated with due regard for mechanic, ultrasonic (US), and thermal effects. The review presents the effect of self-cleaning an optical fibre tip from the laser destruction products of biotissue, the results of research on the possibility of laser-US technology applications in endoscopy, and the ways of suppressing unwanted bending oscillations. Various spheres and peculiarities of applying laser-US technologies are discussed, including microsurgery, cosmetology, transcutaneous drug delivery, and the treatment of chronic prostatitis and infected wounds. Furthermore, the analysis of transcutaneous drug delivery methods employing a portable pulsed Er:YAG laser is presented. Drug diffusion has been shown to be enhanced under acoustic and US effects. The photo-vacuum drug injection mechanism recently suggested is discussed. It turned out that laser-US technology can be suitable for both impregnating the photosensitizer in local photodynamic therapy procedures and conducting microsurgery operations involving drug injection. Treatment of infectious processes based on the bactericidal action of photosensitizers and ultrasound due to the cavitation effect in solutions is described. An additional therapeutic effect can be achieved via the US intermingling of solutions with their simultaneous illumination by a matrix of red lasers or light diodes. An outlook on further developing laser-US technology and the ways of its apparatus realisation are considered.