The use oflasers has entered almost every facet of medicine and biology. Therefore, it is to be expected that the reviews contained in this vol urne will reflect this diversity. As dinical acceptance has grown with various diagnostic and therapeutic applications, so has the need for a more thorough understanding of the theoretical background for each. This is especially true where a correlation is to be made between the theoretical background and the experimental data. It is only in this way that we can attain the optimal form of any therapy. The basic coupling ofenergy into biological tissue...

Much of the material in this book represents a departure from that presented earlier in the series. Volumes 1 and 2 presented almost exclusively reviews by American authors of American work. As science is international, it is rare that in two different parts of the world large groups of researchers in the same field remain relatively uninformed about each other's work. However, during the time since the initiation of this series, a large body of research has grown up in Russia that is almost unknown outside, as the original reports are largely untranslated. For this reason, an extensive...

In the intervening years since the publication of Volume I, the develop ment of new uses for the various types of lasers has proceeded at a rate more rapid than even the most fanciful dreamers envisioned. Of course, the main effort has been on the laser itself-new wavelengths, shorter and longer time domains for pulses, increases in power, and, most important, greater reliability. In its first stage the laser was described as a solution in search of a problem. The production of holograms was one problem whose solution seemed to involve large number of lasers. However that proposal had its own...