CURRENT STATUS OF FLEXIBLE WAVE-GUIDES FOR IR LASER-RADIATION TRANSMISSION

Minimal invasive surgery (MIS) is the preferred method for performing medical operations today due it's lower cost, fastest healing, and min imal post-operative pain and discomfort to the treated patients, It is rapidly expanding with the development and miniaturization of two-dim ensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) endoscopic imaging systems. Laser surgery has also proved itself to be a preferred tool of operat ion over standard tools in a lot of the cases, Development of a reliab le flexible fiber or waveguide will enable surgeons to brine the laser beam transendoscopically within body cavities. It will combine the en doscopy technique with the advantageous laser interaction with tissue to create a powerful surgical tool which will be the ultimate choice o f operating procedure, A number of research groups have suggested flex ible waveguides for the mid-IR region between 2.5 and 11 mu m, which c ontains very important and useful laser wavelengths and it is not cove red by the silica fibers, The gold goals for the development of such d elivery devices are summarized. The different suggested solutions are broadly described and thoroughly analyzed for their performances and p rospective.