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Certain acute disorders of the ear, nose and throat have to be treated with surgery. Surgery requires cutting of the affected tissue without damaging the surrounding areas. But when it comes to the throat, surgery is often a challenge as it causes a scar and stiffness caused by the lesions. This scar and stiffness may impair the vibration of the vocal cord and affect the voice quality. So, what is needed is now a surgical technique that not only removes the affected tissue precisely but which does not also leave behind any residual scar or stiffness. The answer to this is obviously LASER TREATMENT IN ENT, especially KTP laser therapy and CO2 laser surgery.
What is KTP laser therapy?
KTP laser therapy has come as a boon for ENT specialists. This is because it targets the microvasculature or the minute blood vessels of the throat without affecting the surrounding tissues. This is why KTP 532 laser surgery is invaluable for treating laryngeal and auditory disorders.
KTP 532 laser treatment uses a Potassium(K)-Titanyl(T)- Phosphate(P) crystal vibrating at a wavelength of 532 nm for the surgical procedure. Hence the name "KTP-532"- for this laser. This laser is also called "Green Laser" and has wide use in the field of Otolaryngology. It is commonly used for tonsillectomy(tonsils surgery), stapedectomy (middle ear surgery involving the stapes bone), etc.
The KTP laser targets the brown chromatophore or blood at 532 nm. At this wavelength, it is not absorbed by water like in the case of the CO2 laser. This is why the KTP laser is able to penetrate the tissues until it reaches the blood.
When the KTP laser is directed on a vocal fold containing tiny blood vessels, it causes "SELECTIVE PHOTOANGIOLYSIS". This means that although the laser beam was fed unselectively on a tissue area, it caused only the blood to coagulate selectively, leaving the surrounding tissues intact. The KTP 532 laser treatment is thus able to remove only the affected tissue while preserving the voice quality perfectly. This aspect of preserving the physiological phonation is the marvellous feature of the KTP 532 laser surgery.
What is CO2 laser surgery?
CO2 laser surgery is used popularly in the field of Otolaryngology to cure ear, nose and throat disorders. It is a minimally invasive surgery with perfect precision, high speed and minimal side effects. It can be used even on elders fitted with pacemakers. It requires minimum hospitalization and is hence highly suitable for both young infants and senior adults. CO2 laser treatment is hence widely used for Laser Stapedotomy. Laser Cordotomy, Subglottic stenosis, removal of benign and malignant laryngeal tumours. It plays a powerful role in transoral robotic surgery too.
The use of CO2 lasers for surgical purposes is mainly because it is a suture-free procedure with high precision and minimal disturbance to the surrounding structures like nerves and tissues. Here CO2 gas is sent at a wavelength of 10,600 nm wavelength and it targets water as the basic medium.
Lasers in ENT-KTP vs CO2 - which to use when?
The lasers used in ENT are of 2 types- photoangiolytic lasers like KTP 532 laser and ablating or cutting the CO2 laser. The photoangiolytic lasers KTP targets blood selectively while the cutting CO2 laser is absorbed by the water in the body. The second difference is that the KTP laser is transmitted via fibre-optic cable while the CO2 laser is not. This means that KTP 532 laser treatment can be done in non-contact mode also while CO2 laser treatment can be done only in contact mode directly on the tissue. Owing to this feature, KTP 532 laser treatment can be done even in the ENT specialist 's office under local anaesthesia and without hospitalization. On the contrary, CO2 laser treatment is done under general anaesthesia and with hospitalization.
If chemotherapy or radiation was used to treat throat cancer, the entire face structure would have been altered. But not with the CO2 laser. The CO2 laser treatment is used popularly as the first- line treatment to remove cancerous tissue easily as its thermal damage is minimal. KTP laser surgery, on the other hand, has a great hemostatic effect in arresting the flow of blood. That is why KTP 532 laser treatment is used to remove Reinke's oedema, polyps, vascular lesions, contact granuloma, leukoplakia, etc as it dries out the lesion area without any damage to the voice quality.
Both KTP 532 laser treatment and CO2 laser treatment are available at the best ENT hospital in Coimbatore. When it comes to ENT cure, the laser treatment in Coimbatore is at par with international standards and sought-after on a worldwide basis.
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