OCT angiography in the monitoring of vaginal health.

Fractional-pixel CO laser therapy shows promise for treating the genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM). Nevertheless, it remains controversial in the field of female pelvic medicine. This is due to the inherent difficulties in obtaining noninvasive biopsies to evaluate the treatment's efficacy and safety objectively.

Light and energy-based therapeutics for genitourinary applications: Consensus on protocols and best practices.

Background: Lasers and energy-based technologies have been developed for genitourinary applications over the past several decades.

Aims: This consensus article aims to categorize the published articles and clinical trial data that culminated in protocol development of technology for genitourinary applications, and to develop consistent parameters in future clinical trials.

Materials And Methods: The published articles and clinical trials data on lasers and energy-based devices applied to genitourinary conditions were categorized according to device and condition and consensus developed on protocols and parameters.

Optical coherence tomography evaluation of vaginal epithelial thickness during CO laser treatment: A pilot study.

Genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) negatively affects more than half of postmenopausal women. Energy-based therapy has been explored as a minimally invasive treatment for GSM; however, its mechanism of action and efficacy is controversial. Here, we report on a pilot imaging study conducted on a small group of menopause patients undergoing laser treatment.

Optical Vaginal Biopsy Using Optical Coherence Tomography.

Objective: Optical coherence tomography is a noninvasive technology that visualizes tissue microstructure with high spatial resolution. We designed a novel vaginal system that demonstrates a clear distinction between vaginal tissues planes. In this study, we sought to compare vaginal tomographic images of premenopausal, perimenopausal, and postmenopausal women, demonstrate feasibility of tracking vaginal tissue changes after treatment with fractional-pixel CO2 laser therapy, and obtain a histologic correlation of these findings.

Light and energy based therapeutics for genitourinary syndrome of menopause: Consensus and controversies.

Gynecologist and plastic surgeons pioneered the application of lasers in medicine and surgery almost 5 decades ago, initially used to treat cervical and vaginal pathologies. Ever since, energy-based devices have been deployed to treat pelvic pathologies and improve fertility. Recent technological developments triggered an unprecedented wave of publications, assessing the efficacy of fractional laser, and radiofrequency on the vaginal wall in reversing natural aging processes.

Vaginal mifepristone for the treatment of symptomatic uterine leiomyomata: an open-label study.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of 3 months of vaginal mifepristone treatment on leiomyoma volume and related symptoms.

Design: Prospective, open-label, two tertiary centers, phase II clinical trial.

Setting: Two tertiary medical centers in Israel.

[Laparoscopic surgery training system in gynecology].

With the increasing demand of Laparoscopic surgery, many departments are considering the development of surgical skills centers. The authors describe their hospitaLs endoscopic training program which includes a theoretical curriculum and an inexpensive laparoscopic simulator The system is designed in order to improve basic skills of laparoscopic surgery. Other systems available elsewhere are discussed.

[Uterine fibroids].

Uterine fibroids (leiomyoma) are the most common benign tumors in women. Better understanding of the pathophysiology, as well as recent technical advancements opened the gates for new options for women who suffer from symptomatic uterine fibroids. Treatments are categorized in four groups: surgical removal, minimally invasive or noninvasive approach causing damage to cellular viability, medical treatments to reduce volume and relieve symptoms, and complementary medicine.

Laser effects in the manipulation of human eggs and embryos for in vitro fertilization.

Gamete manipulations using laser micro beams were introduced in 1991 and testing its application for assisted hatching occurred shortly thereafter. This procedure has now become an accepted modality of penetrating or reducing the thickness of the zona pellucida in human in vitro fertilization (IVF). Lasers used in earlier work are summarized.

Photodynamic endometrial ablation for the treatment of dysfunctional uterine bleeding: a preliminary report.

Background And Objectives: To evaluate feasibility and functional effects of photodynamic endometrial ablation (PEA) in patients.

Study Design/patients And Methods: A total of 15 PEAs has been performed in 11 patients using topically applied 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) solutions and a balloon-light diffuser (160 J/cm(2), 635 nm). Uterine bleeding intensity has been determined on a daily basis 3 months prior to and up to 6 months after endometrial ablation using an analogous scale scoring from 1 (spotting) to 6 U (severe bleeding).

Photodynamic endometrial ablation: morphological study.

Background And Objectives: Endometriumablation provides an alternative treatment modality to hysterectomy for dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB). Its feasibility was demonstrated in animal studies. The purpose of this study was the evaluation of histological changes following photodynamic endometrial ablation in patients.

Laparoscopic photodynamic diagnosis of ovarian cancer using 5-aminolevulinic acid in a rat model.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy and sensitivity of laparoscopic photodynamic diagnosis to detect 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA)-induced fluorescent tumors in an animal model.

Methods: Cancer cells were injected into the peritoneum of rats to induce peritoneal carcinomatosis. After 3-4 weeks, ALA was administered to establish fluorescence in tumor nodules.

Photodynamic therapy of high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia with 5-aminolevulinic acid.

Background And Objectives: To determine the safety and efficacy of 5-aminolevulinic acid (ALA) as a topically applied photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy (PDT) of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN).

Study Designs/materials And Methods: Forty women, who were at least 18 years old with persistent biopsy-proven CIN 2 and CIN 3 within the previous 3 months of enrollment, underwent PDT in a phase I and II design. Five escalating radiant energies (increments of 25 J/cm(2), beginning at 50-150 J/cm(2)) using a Coherent Dye Model 920 argon pumped dye laser providing light at 630 nm (maximum output 0.

Monitoring tumor response during photodynamic therapy using near-infrared photon-migration spectroscopy.

Benzoporphyrin-derivative (BPD)-monoacid-ring A photodynamic therapy (PDT) was performed on subcutaneous tumor implants in a rat ovarian cancer model. In order to assess PDT efficacy the tumor and normal tissue optical properties were measured noninvasively prior to and during PDT using frequency-domain photon migration (FDPM). FDPM data were used to quantify tissue absorption and reduced scattering properties (given by the parameters mu a and mu's, respectively) at four near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths (674, 811, 849 and 956 nm).

Fluorescence detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia for photodynamic therapy with the topical agents 5-aminolevulinic acid and benzoporphyrin-derivative monoacid ring.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether 2 photosensitizers, benzoporphyrin-derivative monoacid ring and 5-aminolevulinic acid, are selectively absorbed by dysplastic cervical cells after topical administration.

Study Design: This phase I clinical trial involved 18 women with biopsy-proven cervical intraepithelial neoplasia at the Beckman Laser Institute, Irvine, Calif. Colposcopically directed cervical biopsy specimens obtained after 1.

PEG-m-THPC-mediated photodynamic effects on normal rat tissues.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) of malignancies uses light to activate a photosensitizer preferentially accumulated in cancer cells. The first pegylated photosensitizer, tetrakis-(m-methoxypolyethylene glycol) derivative of 7,8-dihydro-5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3-hydroxyphenyl)-21-23-[H]-porphyrin (PEG-m-THPC), was evaluated in non-tumor-bearing rats. The aim of this study was to assess the photodynamic threshold for damage and its sequelae in normal rat tissue.

Effect of pentoxifylline on the intrinsic swimming forces of human sperm assessed by optical tweezers.

It is still controversial whether in vitro exposure of sperm to pentoxifylline increases sperm motility and force, which is defined as the product of velocity by beat frequency of the tail. Laser optical tweezers have been successfully used in the past to evaluate sperm force in basal conditions. The aim of this prospective study was to determine whether exposure of human sperm to pentoxifylline has any effect on sperm intrinsic forces.

Minimally-invasive debulking of ovarian cancer in the rat pelvis by means of photodynamic therapy using the pegylated photosensitizer PEG-m-THPC.

Interstitial photodynamic therapy (PDT) using the pegylated photosensitizer PEG-m-THPC was evaluated as a minimally-invasive procedure to selectively debulk unrespectable pelvic ovarian cancer (NuTu-19) in immunocompetent rats. To assess tumour selectivity, PEG-m-THPC at dosages of 0.3, 3.

Quantitative near-infrared spectroscopy of cervical dysplasia in vivo.

The aims of this study were: (i) to quantify near-infrared optical properties of normal cervical tissues and high-grade squamous intra-epithelial lesions (H-SIL); (ii) to assess the feasibility of differentiating normal cervical tissues from H-SIL on the basis of these properties; and (iii) to determine how cervical tissue optical properties change following photodynamic therapy (PDT) of H-SIL in vivo. Using the frequency domain photon migration technique, non-invasive measurements of normal and dysplastic ecto-cervical tissue optical properties, i.e.

Highly selective targeting of ovarian cancer with the photosensitizer PEG-m-THPC in a rat model.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) uses light to activate a photosensitizer that has been absorbed or retained preferentially by cancer cells after systemic administration. The first pegylated photosensitizer, tetrakis-(m-methoxypolyethylene glycol) derivative of 7,8-dihydro-5,10,15,20-tetrakis(3-hydroxyphenyl)-21,23-[H]-porphyrin (PEG-m-THPC), was evaluated to target selectively unresectable pelvic ovarian cancer bulks. Our goals were two-fold: (1) to establish an ovarian cancer model suitable for the development of debulking techniques and (2) to characterize the pharmacokinetics and tumor selectivity of PEG-m-THPC by fluorescence microscopy.

Systemic application of photosensitizers in the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model: photodynamic response of CAM vessels and 5-aminolevulinic acid uptake kinetics by transplantable tumors.

The aim of this study is to modify the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model into a whole-animal tumor model for photodynamic therapy (PDT). By using intraperitoneal (i.p.