New equipment for necrotic burn treatment using excimer laser irradiations

The authors developed a new equipment for heavily burned skin (burn eschar) treatment using excimer laser ablation. Although auto-skin graft after necrotic tissue removal (debridement) is the only way to save a burned patient, the procedure of the debridement has not been well-established. The authors have an idea to use excimer laser ablation for debridement. Since the burn eschar may have a high protein concentration with less water content compared with normal skin, the use of the excimer laser irradiation may induce efficient ablation. The authors found that the burn eschar can be eliminate efficiently with a sufficient ablation selectivity from normal skin using a KrF excimer laser (/spl lambda/=248 nm). In order to develop and attain fast and wide area elimination of burn eschar, the authors designed a manipulator for laser delivery. They think this new equipment might be useful for the treatment of burned patients.