Utilization of laser arterial angioplasty

Arterial angioplasty with continuous wave laser radiation is now available in clinical practice and, coupled with balloon catheter angioplasty, has been successful in the treatment of lower limb arterial disease. It appears premature to apply laser angioplasty to coronary artery lesions because of the high incidence of severe complications observed in clinical trials. Experimental studies suggest that some of these complications are related to thermal injury induced by continuous wave laser energy and that they could be minimized by the utilization of pulsed laser sources. Because of recent technologic advances, pulsed laser sources coupled with flexible fiberoptic devices will soon be available for peripheral arterial angioplasty in clinical practice.