Seventeen cases of tongue lesions treated with a KTP laser were retrospectively assessed. Out of these, the effectiveness of treatment on eight leukoplakias and five squamous cell carcinomas, which were resected with output power of 10 watts, was compared with those in a group of similar cases that had been treated with a CO2 laser.
It was easy to cut the tongue lesions in both groups. Forty percent of squamous cell carcinoma patients in both groups had bleeding from the tongue during the operation. Consequently, silk-suturing was performed. No cases of leukoplakia of the tongue in either group resulted in bleeding during the operation. In both types of lesions, the postoperative bleeding was mostly confined to the group treated with the KTP laser. Furthermore, postoperative pain tended to continue longer in the KTP laser group, compared with the CO2 laser group.
The period necessary for wound healing was shorter in the KTP laser group, for both types of lesions. Postoperative functional disturbance of the tongue was slight in both groups.
(J. Jpn. Soc. Laser Dent. 12: 10-15, 2001 Reprint requests to Dr. ISHII)