Laser Cancer Treatment

What is Laser Cancer Treatment?

Laser stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. These lasers use a strong beam of light that is powerful and precise enough to cut through different types of cancerous tissue. Surgeons often prefer laser surgery to other surgical tools because the laser beams are designed to cut more precisely, resulting in less pain, bleeding, and scarring after the laser treatment is administered.

There are three types of lasers typically used for cancer therapy. These include:

• Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Lasers – Used to remove surface-level tissue without damaging any surrounding or deep tissue. Typically used to remove superficial cancers (such as skin cancer), pre-cancers, and some early-stage cancers.
• Argon Lasers – Similar to CO2, this laser treatment is used to treat skin cancer and other skin problems. Argon laser treatment is also typically used with a type of cancer treatment called photodynamic therapy. This treatment can also be used to help prevent bleeding and seal blood vessels in radiation therapy.
• Nd: YAG Lasers – This type of laser treatment is able to penetrate the cancerous tissue so that the laser’s heat can destroy the cancerous cells from within the tumor.

How Does Laser Therapy Work?

Low-level laser therapy comprises a high-intensity light that is focused into a single light energy beam. With low-level laser therapy, a clinician can potentially shrink or destroy tumors by exposing them to the wavelengths of light from a laser and excising cancerous tissue. Because the laser energy is made to be extremely narrow and precise, the laser is able to remove a cancer patient’s tumor cells through ablation without damaging any surrounding healthy tissue. Laser cancer therapy is often used for more superficial growths appearing on the surface of the skin or in the lining of internal organs, as opposed to free radicals and tumors appearing in deeper tissues. 

Along with direct treatment for cancer, laser therapy can be used to combat cells contributing to precancerous growths, like colon polyps, or as a treatment for relieving certain symptoms or removing obstructions.

How is Laser Therapy Administered?

Compared to chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery, laser therapy is a minimally invasive procedure used to treat chronic conditions ranging from breast cancer, prostate cancer, to cervical cancer. For cancerous tissue in the lining of internal organs, laser therapy can be administered through the use of an endoscope that is inserted via an opening in the body to then transmit wavelengths of light. Optical fibers fixed to the end of the endoscope can then cut or destroy any internal tumors that could be lending to pain and inflammation or possibly affecting blood circulation.

Laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy (LITT) is a form of laser therapy that is similar to hyperthermia. Through LITT, a laser heats cancerous tissue, raising the temperature enough to damage or destroy the tumor cells. Laser cancer therapy helps to shrink the tumor cells without causing harm to healthy tissue nearby.

Have any additional questions about laser cancer treatment? Call Immunity Therapy Center today to learn more about the healing properties of laser therapy. Explore our other alternative treatment plans to get started on your path towards recovery!

Sources:

• https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/types/surgery/lasers-fact-sheet
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4080850/
• https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/lasers-in-cancer-treatment.html
• https://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatments-and-side-effects/treatment-types/radiation/photodynamic-therapy.html

Medically Reviewed by:Dr. Bautista

November 25, 2019

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Dr. Carlos Bautista is a Board Certified Medical Doctor. He received his Medical Degree from Universidad Autónoma de Baja California and has more than 20 years of experience working with Alternative Medicine to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases, chronic degenerative diseases, and infectious diseases. He opened Immunity Therapy Center in 2007 with the goal of providing the highest quality medical care for more than 5,000 patients.

At Immunity Therapy Center, our goal is to provide objective, updated, and research-based information on all health-related topics. This article is based on scientific research and/or other scientific articles. All information has been fact-checked and reviewed by Dr. Carlos Bautista, a Board Certified Medical Doctor at Immunity Therapy Center. All information published on the site must undergo an extensive review process to ensure accuracy. This article contains trusted sources with all references hyperlinked for the reader's visibility.