Modern airway laser treatment: insights from clinical medicine and biomedical science
- Author:
Seung Hoon WOO
1
Author Information
- Publication Type:Review article
- From: Medical Lasers 2026;15(1):53-60
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:English
- Abstract: Laser-based airway surgery has evolved from a destructive ablative technique into a wavelength-selective, function-preserving therapeutic modality that can address a broad spectrum of benign, inflammatory, and malignant airway disorders with high precision and reproducibility. Early experience with the carbon dioxide (CO2 ) laser established the feasibility of endoscopic laser surgery for recurrent respiratory papillomatosis and other structural airway diseases, providing better hemostasis, improved visualization, and reduced collateral damage compared with cold instruments. Subsequently, the development of photoangiolytic lasers such as potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP, 532 nm) and 445-nm blue lasers enabled selective microvascular targeting.These lasers minimized thermal injury, expanding indications to papillomatosis, laryngeal dysplasia, hemangiomas, and inflammatory airway lesions. In parallel, advances in anesthesia management, laser-safe airway devices, surgical smoke evacuation systems, and postoperative wound modulation have improved safety and long-term outcomes.
