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The laser system U100 made by WOM AG, Germany is a newly designed medical laser device espacially for the use in urology for the intra corporal kidney, urethra and bladder stone shockwave lithotripsy as well as for the gestrointestinal surgery to shatter stones in the bile duct. In opposite to other laser systems which usually produces little shockwaves by means of collapsing steam cavities by a rapid and strong heating of the water surrounding the material, the laser energy of the U100 generates a real mechanical shock wave directly on the targeted stone, which leads to a safe and very efficient crushing of the stones. Becase of this non thermal interaction the adjacent tissue remains unaffected. Highly flexible, thin fiber system permit the laser energy to be trensferred to the targets using various methods of access, by means of X-ray control and under the direct endoscopical view with rigid and flexible scopes. We present the background of the FREDDY (Frequency Doubled Double Pulse Nd:YAG) lase technology and discuss the applications in urology, gestrointestinal surgery and other medical fields the U100 has been grented FDA 510k approval for use in urology in November 2001.
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