State of the art of lasers in oncologic surgery

The laser first described by Shawlow and Townes in 1957 was built by Ted Maiman in 1960. Many forms of lasers rapidly evolved using solids, liquids, and gasses from the medium. Applications in many fields grew rapidly; medicine has been in the forefront. Many branches of medicine found applications in surgical oncology, pulmonary, dermatology, vascular surgery, and, now, infectious diseases using this modality. This paper discusses part of the benefits for research and treatment of cancer.