On November 25, 2021, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi 'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) announced that the world's first blue laser surgical equipment with an output power of 30W, jointly developed by Xi 'an Blueray Medical Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. (Blueray Med), officially obtained the Class III Medical Device Registration Certificate issued by National Medical Products Administration and was applied into clinical practice, which achieved a major breakthrough in self-research and self-manufacture of domestic major medical devices in the field of semiconductor laser, created significant innovation in the combination of medicine and engineering and resolved the bottleneck problem of laser treatment. It is another significant scientific research milestone of our hospital for the construction of national medicine center.
Laser therapy has been widely applied in medical field. At present, holmium laser, red laser and green laser are adopted in clinical surgery. However, all these laser devices have their own limitations, including low cutting accuracy, high equipment cost, complicated manufacturing process and loud noise,etc. Blue semiconductor laser (blue laser) was discovered by scientists in the early 1990s, filling the gap of blue laser around the globe. The technological innovation of blue laser, which was awarded as the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014, has brought remarkable progress to society. Especially in clinical application, compared with other types of lasers, blue laser has multiple advantages of faster vaporization effect, better hemostatic effect, less thermal damage to the tissues, smaller equipment volume and less noise, which is more advanced and convenient for widespread application.
The team led by Professor He Dalin from Department of Urology of our hospital has been dedicated to laser treatment in the diagnosis and treatment of urinary diseases for many years. Professor He Dalin's team is guided by clinical problems. After comparing the application effects of various lasers, the team precisely found that blue laser has higher photon energy and better safety than other medical lasers, which can effectively resect various types of soft tissues. Based on the concept of combining medicine with engineering, he cooperated with Dr. Mu Liyue, Chief Scientist from Blueray Med, to launch the research and development of blue laser medical equipment. After 5-year continuous research and clinical trials, he successfully developed the world's first 30W blue laser surgical equipment.
Recently, Department of Urology of our hospital successfully completed two operations with 30W blue laser surgical equipment. Two patients were diagnosed with malignant bladder tumors by cystoscopy. After communicating with the patients' families, two patients were treated with transurethral laser enucleation of bladder tumors. Intraoperatively, the entire tumor was enucleated by blue laser surgical equipment, with high resection efficiency, low noise, excellent visual field, no obturator nerve reflex, intraoperative bleeding or carbonized tissues (beneficial to wound healing). On the 2ndday after operation, the urinary catheter drainage was clear, physical conditions were stable, and two patients could eat and drink. They were discharged after postoperative recovery.
Major scientific research project of 30W blue laser surgical equipment and its clinical application have successively received financial supports from National Key Research and Development of Digital Diagnosis and Treatment Equipment,Surface Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China,Shaanxi Provincial Key Project,Key Industry Innovation Chain of Shaanxi Province and other funds, projects, and policy supports from administration committee of Xi 'an High-Tech Industries Development Zone. During the research and development of this project, the team continually caught up with the international frontiers and strictly conformed to scientific norms. After obtaining the approval from medical ethics committee, they successively carried out multi-center clinical trials, and eventually obtained three invention patents issued by China National Intellectual Property Administration and Class III Medical Device Registration Certificate issued by National Medical Products Administration.
Next, the research and development team will strive to achieve three goals: First, the team will be devoted to research and development of 200W blue laser equipment. Second, the blue laser equipment will be gradually applied in the treatment of other diseases in the fields of gastroenterology, gynecology, otolaryngology, respiratory medicine and stomatology. Third, the team will take advantage of the First Affiliated Hospital of XJTU, as an affiliated hospital of XJTU, to give full play to promoting the integration of research, education and medicine, accelerate the training and talent cultivation for blue laser technique and related fields, promote and apply the equipment to primary medical institutions to bring benefit to more patients.
