|
 |
 advertisement
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Space-Age Light Probe Makes the Cut
By Kenneth Silber
Staff Writer
posted: 07:20 am ET
04 October 1999
|
light_surgery_991001A lighting technology developed for plant experiments on the space shuttle has been put to successful use in a radically different arena: the operating room. Dr. Harry Whelan, a surgeon at the Medical Hospital of Wisconsin in Miliwaukee, has performed two operations on brain cancer patients using a probe that contains Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), pinhead-sized light sources that produce little heat. Wisconsin-based Quantum Devices, Inc., which developed the probe, initially created such components for space-based research aimed at fostering plant growth for potential agricultural uses. "To grow plants in space, we needed roughly the equivalent of one sun," but without the sun's heat, says Ronald Ignatius, president of Quantum Devices. The company expanded into medical applications through "serendipity," says Ignatius. After his wife showed him a local newspaper article about Dr. Whelan, Ignatius contacted the surgeon and they worked together to develop the LED probe as an alternative to conventional laser surgery. The LEDs emit light in long wavelengths, which can penetrate parts of a tumor inaccessible to lasers. Moreover, because the LEDs produce little heat, they are less likely to damage surrounding tissue. Also, the probe is hooked to a briefcase-sized power unit, far smaller than the refrigerator-sized devices needed by laser probes. The LED probe was first used in May in an operation on 20-year-old Katie Pedersen, whose brain cancer had proved resistant to previous surgeries as well as chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Dr. Whelan believes the probe removed her tumor permanently, and that an operation on a second patient in August also was successful. Quantum Devices' LEDs have flown aboard seven shuttle flights and will continue to be used in space-based agricultural research.
|
|
|
|
|
