Laserthermia. A new method of interstitial local hyperthermia using the contact Nd:YAG laser.

Laserthermia is a new method of delivering interstitial local hyperthermia using a synthetic contact probe with a computer-controlled Nd:YAG laser to deliver both pulsed and continuous laser energy. The system allows an easily controllable increase in temperature (for example, from 42 to 43 degrees C) over a fixed period of time (for example, 20 minutes) to be delivered to tissue. A single or multiple channel system can be used depending on the volume of tissue to be treated. Tumor necrosis appears to be related to avascular infarction. Early clinical results support the beneficial therapeutic effects of Laserthermia in its oncologic applications.