With the development of any new biomedical or surgical technique using a potentially hazardous new technology, it is necessary to consider health hazards to both the patient and medical personnel. Lasers used in surgery and in some other biomedical applications can pose potential hazards to both the patient and to the laser operating personnel. Because the laser beam is normally in the open when emitted from a surgical laser, special precautions are necessary. Unlike many applications of relatively high-powered lasers in industry where the laser may been closed, the very nature of most lasr surgical procedures requires the use of administrative controls and the use of protective eyewear rather than engineering controls such as beam enclosures, baffles, etc. Be cause of the requirements for flexibility in the arrangement of the laser beam delivery system and the open beam, the potential for hazardous exposure to laser radiationis the highest for some surgical and biomedical personnel (1, 2, 3). The hazards posed by enclosed industrial lasers are, as a general rule, farless (2).
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ICALEO '82: Proceedings of the Materials Processing Symposium
September 20–23, 1982
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
ISBN:
978-0-912035-01-7
PROCEEDINGS PAPER
Safety with surgical lasers
David H. Sliney
David H. Sliney
Laser Microwave Division, US Army Environmental Hygiene Agency
, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD 21010, U.S.A.
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Published Online:
September 01 1982
Citation
David H. Sliney; September 20–23, 1982. "Safety with surgical lasers." Proceedings of the ICALEO '82: Proceedings of the Materials Processing Symposium. ICALEO '82: Proceedings of the Medicine and Biology Symposium. Boston, Massachusetts, USA. (pp. pp. 64-68). ASME. https://doi.org/10.2351/1.5057302
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