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Light in diagnosis, therapy and surgery

Light and optical techniques have made profound impacts on modern medicine, with numerous lasers and optical devices currently being used in clinical practice to assess health and treat disease. Recent advances in biomedical optics have enabled increasingly sophisticated technologies — in particular, those that integrate photonics with nanotechnology, biomaterials and genetic engineering. In this Review, we revisit the fundamentals of light–matter interactions, describe the applications of light in imaging, diagnosis, therapy and surgery, overview their clinical use, and discuss the promise of emerging light-based technologies.

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Figure 1: Light–tissue interactions.
Figure 2: Medical application areas of light.
Figure 3: Surgical and therapeutic applications of light.
Figure 4: Current and emerging optical imaging.
Figure 5: Various implantable photonic devices at the proof-of-concept stage.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award (DP1-OD022296) and grants P41-EB015903, R01-EY025454 and R01-CA192878, and National Science Foundation grants ECCS-1505569 and CMMI-1562863.

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Yun, S., Kwok, S. Light in diagnosis, therapy and surgery. Nat Biomed Eng 1, 0008 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-016-0008

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