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The authors report the design criteria and performance of the ExciMeda UV200 medical excimer laser system. A beam delivery system for controlled photoablative machining of variable power optical lenses in organic material is described. Some of the potential applications of this delivery system in corneal surgery are presented. The uses of the UV200 laser system in other areas of medical research are discussed and, in particular, its application i the field of laser angioplasty is outlined. There has been considerable interest recently in the use of excimer lasers in a variety of fields in medicine. The ultraviolet, high peak power beam emitted by an excimer laser has been shown to be capable of producing very clean and precise cuts in organic material. In particular, cuts can be made in biological material with minimal disturbance of the material adjacent to the cut. For example, tissue can be cut in such a way as to produce negligible charring or vacuolization in adjacent areas of the tissue. This is in marked contrast to the results when organic material is cut by a continuous wave laser such as an Argon ion laser, or c.w. CO2 laser. The potential applications in clinical settings which are suggested by this feature of the interaction of tissue with excimer laser radiation have been largely unrealized outside the laboratory as yet. A primary reason for this is that, until recently, excimer lasers have been available only in a form that was suitable for the scientific laboratory. These lasers required large amounts of space, were not mobile once installed, and required con nection to external sources of water cooling, vacuum exhaust, a high current electrical supply, and a variety of gas bottles including the gases F2 and C12. These systems were not designed with clinical applications in mind, and thus provided unnecessary performance features at the cost of added complexity. They also posed potential electrical and gaseous safety hazards not suitable for a clinical environment. In addition, the output from these system could not be easily delivered to a target site due to the absence of any built-in beam delivery system such as an articulated arm, or fiber-optic delivery system . Several months ago, Summit Technology introduced the world's first medical excimer laser, the ExciMedTM UV200. This laser system is shown in Figure 1. It has been specifically designed for research applications in a clinical environment and incorporates a number of important design features.
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