The papers in this Volume were given at a two-day Conference on the subject of Optoelectronics in Medicine. The meeting was held in Florence, and promoted by the Consortium Centro di Eccellenza Optronica (C.E.O.). It represented the first of a series of Meetings on Optoelectronics that C.E.O. is organizing in order to stimulate new developments in this field and more efficient cooperation among local, national, and international research centers, industries, utilizers, etc .. Italian scientists have contributed consistently to the development of laser sources and to their applications to Medicine. A significant role has also been played by research institutes and industries in Florence. However, in this Conference, and in the Proceadings only a few Italian scientists were invited to present a lecture, thus offering the local and national communities as wide an international view as possible. Many more were present, however, as chairmen, and contributed successfully to making the discussions stimulating and fruitful. AB Editor, I had to substitute last-minute missing manuscripts with papers of my own, in order to keep the scheduled index of papers. The contributions presented at the Conference are written as extended, review like papers to provide a broad and representative coverage of the fields of light sources, optoelectronic systems for medical diagnosis, and light and laser applications to Medicine.

Inhalt

1. Miniature Laser Source Technology.- Properties of High Power Semiconductor Lasers.- Diode Laser Pumped Miniature Solid State Lasers.- 2. Light-Tissue Interactions and Optics of Tissues.- Biophysical Bases of Laser-Tissue Interactions.- Optical and Thermal Modeling of Tissues: Dosimetry.- 3. Diagnostic Techniques.- Holography in Medical Diagnostics.- Laser Reflectance Spectroscopy of Tissue.- Monitoring and Imaging of Tissue Blood Flow by Coherent Light Scattering.- Transillumination Imaging.- Fluorescence Techniques in Diagnostic Medicine with Special Consideration of Optoelectronic Methods.- Survey of the UV and Visible Spectroscopic Properties of Normal and Atherosclerotic Human Artery Using Fluorewcence EEMS.- Development of Near-IR Angiography.- 4. Therapeutic Techniques.- 4.1 Lamps.- Ultraviolet Radiation Lamps for the Phototherapy of Psoriasis.- Phototherapy and Photochemotherapy of Psoriasis.- Light Therapy for Neonatal Jaundice.- The Hazards of Cosmetic Tanning with UVA Radiation.- 4.2 Lasers.- The Role of the Neodymium Yittrium Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG) Laser in Medicine.- Diode Laser Photocoagulation in Ophthalmology.- Lasers in Dermatology.- Photochemiotherapy of Tumours: Molecular and Biophysical Bases.- Laserchemotherapy of Tumours: Clinical Aspects.- Laser Angioplasty: State of the Art.- UV Laser Angioplasty: Clinical Aspects.- 5. Future Directions.- Initial Applications and Potential of Miniature Lasers in Medicine.- Future Trends in Laser Medicine.- Contributors.