[Application of lasers in treatment of larynx diseases]

In otolaryngology, CO2 laser is the first and most commonly applied device. Such lasers as Ny:YAG generating visible light having wavelength 532 nm referred to as KTP laser due to the Name of the crystal where infrared light is converted to visible light. Such wavelenght, having green colour, due to strong absorption in haemoglobin is applied in treatments on tissues having dense blood vessels. The object of the work is to analyze larynx microsurgery laser treatments performer between 1994-2008 in the Otolaryngology Department of the Military Medical Institute CSK MON in Warsaw. The examination covered 445 patients including 142 women (31.9%) and 303 men (68.1%) aged between 12 and 80 (the average age of 48.2 year olds) who Were qualified in 1994-2003 for endoscopic laser surgery of the larynx. The operations field was watched using OPMI-11 operating microscope (Zeiss, Germany) allowing 4-16 times blow-up. Larynx laser microsurgery was performer using white laser beam: CO2 Illumina 40 (Heraeus LaserSonics, Germany) and green laser beam using KTP AURA XP laser (AMS, USA). The total of 445 larynx laser microsurgeries were performer. In recent years our clinic has seen an increase in the number of operations using this technique. The largest group were patients with recognized precancerous conditions (33.0%) and larynx carcinoma (26.4%). The next group in terms of the number of patients were 114 patients (20.6%) with recognized juvenile papilloma. Complications were observed in 180 patients. Table III show the type of recognized complications. The most commonly observed was swelling of the mucous membrane (48.3%), the rarest type was subcutaneous emphysema (3.3%). It was concluded that larynx laser microsurgery is a safe method and a valuable tool in treatment of larynx diseases, especially precancerous conditions and early forms of larynx carcinoma; that complications following procedure are relatively rare, usually mild, not life-threatening, and most often subsiding after a few days.