The goal of this work is to develop handheld attachments for surgical CO2 laser delivery. Such devices will allow the laser to be used more easily and in a wider variety of procedures than are currently possible. Instrumentation will be designed for the requirements of neurosurgery, but will be useful in other areas of laser surgery as well. Chemical vapor deposited silicon carbide waveguides will be used to transmit the laser radiation. These will attach to conventional articulated arm delivery systems and will allow the surgeon line-of-sight vision, improved maneuverability and better access than are possible with current micromanipulator systems. The possibility of interfacing waveguides to endoscopes will be studied. These improvements will be of use to the approximately 9000 neurosurgeons worldwide as well as to the far greater number of surgeons who use CO2 lasers in other areas. In Phase I manufacturing methods will be developed and 2 feasibility tests performed. In Phase II waveguide-based devices suited to specific procedures will be produced.
