Development of Clinical Laser Septoplasty System

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 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Approximately, 1 in 124 people, or 2.2 million people in USA suffer from deviated septum and related nasal obstruction. Nasal septoplasty, a surgical approach is reserved as the last resort for patients with severe symptoms so patients only opt to receive septoplasty as part of a cosmetic rhinoplasty. Those with less severe symptoms would stick with long-term pharmacologic treatments, which ultimately overburden the current health care system. It is estimated that at least 250,000 septoplasties are performed annually, ranking in the top ten of the most common surgical procedures performed in the U.S. Recently, laser cartilage reshaping (LCR) has been demonstrated clinically as a minimally invasive alternative procedure. Despite the simplicity of the procedure, LCR has not been widely adopted by the clinicians due to the following barriers: (a) lack of availability of cost-effective laser system fr cartilage reshaping, and (b) heat related tissue damage from lack of proper cooling method. Our ultimate goal is to address these barriers by delivering a safe and user-friendly laser therapy system for routine septoplasty in cost-effective manner. In this Phase 1 SBIR proposal, we will build and test a clinic-ready prototype new laser system and a probe with tissue cooling feature for septoplasty cartilage re-shaping. Upon successful completion, the device will be used to carry out a first pilot human trial in future Phase 2 proposals.