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Abstract
Light and optical techniques have made profound impacts on modern medicine, with numerous lasers and optical devices currently being used in clinical practice to assess health and treat disease. Recent advances in biomedical optics have enabled increasingly sophisticated technologies — in particular, those that integrate photonics with nanotechnology, biomaterials and genetic engineering. In this Review, we revisit the fundamentals of light–matter interactions, describe the applications of light in imaging, diagnosis, therapy and surgery, overview their clinical use, and discuss the promise of emerging light-based technologies.
This Review provides a broad account of the applications of light in imaging, diagnosis, therapy and surgery, and discusses the promise of emerging light-based technologies.
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1 Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge, USA (GRID:grid.32224.35) (ISNI:0000 0004 0386 9924); Harvard Medical School, Department of Dermatology, Boston, USA (GRID:grid.38142.3c) (ISNI:000000041936754X); Harvard–MIT Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, USA (GRID:grid.116068.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 2341 2786)
2 Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Cambridge, USA (GRID:grid.32224.35) (ISNI:0000 0004 0386 9924); Harvard–MIT Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, USA (GRID:grid.116068.8) (ISNI:0000 0001 2341 2786)