Laserscope announced today that it has been issued an important U.S. patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) relating to the use of its Photoselective Vaporization (PV) method and technology for therapeutic treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and other tissues in the human body.
U.S. Patent number 6986764, "Method and System for Photoselective Vaporization of the Prostate and Other Tissue," covers the unique and innovative methods and equipment of Laserscope that enable doctors to quickly vaporize targeted tissue while causing only minimal coagulation and heat damage to surrounding healthy tissue. The treatment method uses the GreenLight PV(R) laser system, Laserscope's leading surgical product, to perform the Photoselective Vaporization of the Prostate ("PVP") procedure. The capabilities of this treatment method are fundamental to achieving the excellent clinical outcomes of procedures such as PVP. The newly issued patent covers a wide spectrum of applications where tissue vaporization without significant coagulation is important.
"We are pleased to have been issued this patent, which reinforces the intellectual property protection afforded to these core Laserscope methods and technologies used in our current GreenLight(TM) products," said Eric Reuter, Laserscope President and CEO. "Clinical studies continue to validate that concentrated, powerful laser light at the 532 nanometer wavelength, used by our GreenLight(R) PV laser system, has ideal characteristics to achieve both fast vaporization and hemostatic coagulation of tissue which results in superior clinical outcomes for the patient in many applications."
Photoselective vaporization works by applying very high laser irradiances (light energy per unit of surface area) of a specific wavelength to tissue and tissue components (chromophores) that highly absorb light of that wavelength. This quickly vaporizes and removes the affected tissue while leaving behind a very thin zone of coagulated tissue. This remaining zone of coagulated tissue is usually sufficient to substantially reduce or even prevent post-operative bleeding while being thin enough to reduce the side effects and damage to surrounding tissue caused by significant coagulation.