Laser tumor debulking

When adequate tumor ablation is nonfeasible, debulking has become essential to palliate or to prepare patients for chemotherapy, radiotherapy or definite surgery. The CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers were used to debulk 120 head and neck cases, of which 118 were successfully debulked. The advantages of the laser as a debulker are its facility, rapidity, repeatability, coagulability, atraumaticity, precision, sterilization, and prompt healing; thus, tracheostomy and extended hospitalization were obviated. This paper describes the effectiveness and benefits of the CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers as tumor debulkers.