Abstract
We have treated cancer with the CO2 laser since 1980 and have added the Nd-YAG laser treatment since 1983. Twenty hundred and fifty-seven patients with head and neck cancer were treated using the CO2 laser or the Nd-YAG laser. However, we have treated many cancer cases mainly with the contact Nd-YAG laser technique except for laryngeal cancers, because the contact Nd-YAG laser technique can be performed at a low power of 6 to 8 watts in a laser excision of soft tissue with less bleeding and tissue damage, in addition to its high controllability and harmlessness for surgeons or coworkers. Twenty-five cases with mesopharyngeal cancers and 17 cases with hypopharyngeal cancers were treated by this laser surgery.
Also, we have recently developed a new ceramic tip for localized laser hyperthermia (laserthermia). It is well known that hyperthermia combined with radio-chemotherapy can be useful in treating malignant tumors. This laserthermia was applied to 26 cases of head and neck malignancies including 4 cases of pharyngeal cancers. Using this treatment with radio-chemotherapy we got complete remission in 5 cases and partial remission in 14 cases.
