Medical 'Lightsabers': Laser Scalpels Get Ultrafast, Ultra-Accurate, and Ultra-Compact Makeover

Medical 'Lightsabers': Laser Scalpels Get Ultrafast, Ultra-Accurate, and Ultra-Compact Makeover http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120423131854.htm No matter what tools Surgeons use they always end up cutting away some healthy tissue with the bad, so to reduce the risks of causing more damage or removing something important medical lasers have been refined to be more accurate, faster, and smaller than before. Scientists from the University of Texas at Austin have developed a small, flexible endoscopic medical device fitted with a femtosecond laser “scalpel" that can remove diseased or damaged tissue while leaving healthy cells untouched and it has been nicknamed a medical lightsaber. The laser was engineered with parts including a laser that is capable of generating pulses of light merely 200 quadrillionths of a second in duration, these bursts are very strong but are over so quickly that they can cut away the damaged tissue and leave healthy flesh behind. Now this would be very hard to use if doctors couldn’t aim it so it has a built in mini- microscope that allows surgeons to target individual cells or even cell nuclei. The laser is also very small, it is thinner than a pencil and only 23 millimeters long and it can be added to large endoscopes such as the ones used for colonoscopies. This can affect everyone who needs to get a surgery done as well as all the surgeons, leaving them with more healthy flesh or better tools depending.