Vanderbilt Free-Electron Laser Center for Research in Surgery Medicine Photobiology and Materials Science

摘要

This program is designed to explore the militarily-relevant medical applications of high-power, tunable infrared radiation available from unique accelerator-based light sources, the Mark Ill FEL, the monochromatic X-ray system, and a new Smith-Purcell THz FEL. As applications mature, we also develop cost-efficient, dedicated systems to expand the use of these applications beyond the FEL Center. During the last funding period, we have developed a comprehensive research program directed towards a thorough understanding of militarily-relevant laser medicine applications. These studies involve substantial collaborations with all the other FEL centers: dermatology with the Wellman Laboratories, infection and cancer diagnosis with Stanford, bone and cartilage ablation with UC Irvine, neurosurgery with Duke. Since the Vanderbilt center has the only FEL that is coupled to an FDA-approved human operating rooms, all FEL clinical applications developed within the MFEL program are carried out at Vanderbilt. In particular, our researchers have concentrated on the development of three new surgical approaches using the FEL, (1) decrease of wound healing and scar minimization, (2) ophthalmological surgery in the back of the eye without removing the eye from the socket, and (3) laser-based non-contact nerve stimulation.