Treatment of head and neck tumors by contact Nd-YAG laser surgery.

The contact Nd-YAG laser system with ceramic rods which has been developed by us was applied to animal experiments and clinical practice. It was confirmed that: 1) this method can be performed at low power of 6 to 8 W in contact laser incision of soft tissue and at 3 to 4 W in localized laser hyperthermia; 2) it permits accurate and precise incision because mis-shots of laser irradiation can be eliminated in the target tissue; 3) it causes less bleeding with minimal damage to adjacent tissue; and 4) it has remarkably high controllability. The contact Nd-YAG laser systems are very useful as one of the new modalities for surgical procedures as well as localized laser hyperthermia in head and neck tumors.