New technologies and future applications of surgical lasers. The right tool for the right job.
The real future of surgical lasers, and indeed of surgery itself, will depend on the integration of the surgeon into a system incorporating real-time tissue sensors, computer-directed robotic manipulation, and laser-tissue interactions that are customized to the clinical task. The human surgeon will operate as the central judgmental element in this mechanized and semiautomated laser surgical system. Only then will we really be able to make use of the subtle and varied laser-tissue effects now being discovered.
Treat
M R
MR
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York.
Oz
M C
MC
Bass
L S
LS
D000818:Animals; D004867:Equipment Design; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D008028:Light Coagulation; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science