APPLICATION OF DIODE PUMPED ND:YAG LASER FOR ALLERGIC RHINITIS

抄録

In Japan, nearly 15 to 20 % of the population suffers from allergic rhinitis during the spring season. Conventional treatment with oral anti-histamines has side-effects such as drowsiness and dryness of the throat and is not acceptable for some patients.
Laser treatment usually uses the carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser to charr the mucosal lining of the inferior turbinate in order to prevent onset of symptoms. This treatment has a downtime of roughly one month. Complications such as pain and hemorrhage sometimes require hospital admission. We have been using a flashlamp pumped Nd:YAG laser since 1993 with more favorable results both in efficacy and efficiency of treatment with less patient discomfort. A single treatment session takes around 2 to 3 minutes for both sides compared to 20 to 40 minutes with the CO₂ laser and the downtime, which consists of rhinorhea, is much shorter lasting only 2,3 days to up to one week. Treatment using the flashlamp pumped Nd:YAG laser is very reliable but improvement may be achieved using a diode laser pumped Nd:YAG laser where theoretically the homogeneity of the incident laser beam will increase. We report our experience using the hardware developed by Fibertech Co. on 40 patients as a preliminary report with further reports with larger series of patients ensuing. We also compare this new laser system with the conventional YAG laser and describe the advantage of the diode laser pumped Nd:YAG laser in the treatment of allergic rhinitis, especially in an office practice setting of ENT doctors.