Current and future trends in laser medicine

In this overview, a number of the major current, and possible future developments in laser medicine are explored. In therapeutic applications, particular emphasis is given to obtaining selectivity in tissue targets and interaction mechanisms in order to achieve specific biological effects. This includes spatial confinement of thermal damage by pulsed laser irradiation and targetting by exogenous photothermal or photochemical chromophores. The potential for diagnostic applications of lasers in medicine is illustrated primarily by various in vivo spectroscopic techniques. Both therapeutic and diagnostic applications will rely increasingly on the development of total systems in which lasers will form only one, albeit an essential, part. Numerous scientific and technical problems need to be solved in order to realize the full clinical potential of the many new concepts in laser medicine. The impetus for such progress will come from integrated, multidisciplinary collaborations between medical, scientific and industrial groups.