title: [Laser physics].
abstract: The commission of this article plunged me into doubt. First I should confess that I don't find excuse to escape this part if somebody wants to minimally deepen in the knowledge of the biological effects of this energy source. Secondly, when we talk about results, we use terms made and defined by Physics. Often we have polemics about results, and what really happens is that we don't reach agreements because we refer to different terms to explain the same observation; in conclusion we cannot understand each other because we do not know the adequate terms; for example, hypoxemia as oxygen deficit, which is true in an anemic patient as well as in a low oxygen saturation rate. In consequence, a good review of these concepts seems necessary to me. The third reason is the confusion that exists in our environment, I think sometimes of interest, about properties and effects of different types of laser. Only a minimal knowledge of physics will help us to state the scientific basis for understanding. The problems, nevertheless, accumulate due to the fact that the universe to which this article is directed is formed by urologists. What Physics education should we suppose they have? Superficial? Medium? Is it a collective with a uniform knowledge, being it whatever it is? The implication is clear. The article depth will depend on the answers to these questions. Nevertheless, the aim of the authors is to give a base enough to know what the laser is and how it acts. For that, the answer I gave to my questions is that the reader should understand the article and have enough base for, at least, reading critically the articles about laser published in urological journals.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Catalán de Urología y Nefrología, Barcelona, España. 8853jbg@comb.es
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Banús Gassol
mesh_terms: D007834:Lasers; D010825:Physics