APPLICATION OF LASER IN ORAL AND MAXILOFACIAL SURGERY : LASER ADVANCEMENT

<p>Laser surgery has become a reliable treatment option for oral cancer as well as for precancerous lesions. Widely used lasers in oral and maxillofacial tumor surgery are the CO2 laser the Er:YAG laser the Nd:YAG laser and the KTM laser. The use of lasers in tumor surgery has several advantages: remote application precise cutting hemostasis low cicatrization reduced postoperative pain and swelling can be combined with endoscopic microscopic and robotic surgery. However laser surgery has some major drawbacks: In contrast to conventional incisions with scalpels the surgeon gets no feedback during laser ablation. There is no depth sensation and no tissue specificity with a laser incision increasing the risk of iatrogenic damage to nerves and major blood vessels. Future prospects may solve these problems by means of an optical feedback mechanism that provides a tissue-specific laser ablation. First attempts have been made to perform remote optical tissue differentiation. Additionally real time optical tumor detection during laser surgery would allow for a very precise and straight forward cancer resection enhancing organ preservation and hence the quality of life for patients with cancer in the head and neck region.</p>