Medical Tunable Laser are available in 2006 for commercial deployment. Tunable laser medical systems are used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Tunable laser medical systems are expected to find uses for the diagnosis and treatment of the heart. The Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at San Francisco, CA is doing research on gold nanoparticles and lasers in the otolaryngology-head and neck surgery.

Efficient conversion of strongly absorbed light by plasmonic gold nanoparticles to heat energy and their easy bioconjugation suggest their use as selective photothermal agents in molecular cancer cell targeting.

Absorption spectroscopy is emerging as a significant mechanism useful for diverse medical purpose. Inflammation is a significant aspect of respiratory and heart disease. Tunable laser medical systems are useful for assessing airway and vascular inflammation and providing monitoring therapy.

Tunable lasers are poised to be very useful in medical applications. Vendors have reliable tunable lasers that are priced reasonably. Volume is expected to push the prices of tunable lasers down.

Vendors have a range of devices that provide some tunability and are priced in a manner attractive to the market. Medical tunable lasers take full advantage of the dynamic aspects provided by variability of tunable lasers. Tunable lasers address multiple different medical applications. A tunable laser will stay at the same channel unless the software instructs it to change.

Companies are setting up controllers that build different lasers for different medical markets. Any laser is being designed to tune to any frequency within a particular application. Dynamically tuning lasers in response to patient condition means the capacity and flexibility of fiber optic networks for dramatically improve diagnostic and therapeutic capabilities while decreasing the cost of running the network.

Breath meters are used for asthma screening and asthma therapeutic monitoring. Ekips breath meter is reagent-free. The value of a reagent-free reagent-free instrument is that it can rapidly measure trace NO concentrations during an exhalation. The reagent-free feature of the breath meter is important since it allows easy implementation in clinical settings.

Highly accurate laser technology is poised to replace spirometry as a screening and monitoring tool for pulmonary, allergy and immunology lung testing. Clinical trials in collaboration physicians are underway to develop additional breath tests such as one for early detection of lung cancer and measurement of specific biomarkers associated with schizophrenia.

Markets at $5.6 million in 2005 are anticipated to reach $2.8 billion by 2012. Growth will be a result of advances in chemistry and nanotechnology that make optics more useful in medicine. Medical uses of tunable laser build on medical uses of lasers which are well established for eye surgery and facial surgery.

Companies Profiled
Aculight Corporation Coherent Continuum Ekips Technologies Given Diagnostic Systems Intel	Lumenis Medlite C Series Lasers Mediscience Technology Opotek Photonics SpectRx

Report Methodology

This is the 266th report in a series of market research reports that provide forecasts in communications, telecommunications, the internet, computer, software, and telephone equipment. The project leaders take direct responsibility for writing and preparing each report. They have significant experience preparing industry studies. Forecasts are based on primary research and proprietary data bases. Forecasts reflect analysis of the market trends in the segment and related segments. Unit and dollar shipments are analyzed through consideration of dollar volume of each market participation in the segment. Market share analysis includes conversations with key customers of products, industry segment leaders, marketing directors, distributors, leading market participants, and companies seeking to develop measurable market share. Over 200 in-depth interviews are conducted for each report with a broad range of key participants and opinion leaders in the market segment.