Clinical & Translational Biophotonics







Computational clinical trials for laser and light-based therapy

We are developing computational clinical trials based on numerical modeling of laser-tissue interactions and simulation of a series of treatment processes for rapid clinical application of novel laser and light-based devices. The current preclinical and clinical trials evaluate the safety and efficacy of laser therapy based on histological observation of tissues at treatment endpoints. This process requires massive amounts of time and cost, preventing the smooth clinical approval of novel laser and light-based devices. It is expected that the current trials will not be able to be conducted widely in the future, just as animal testing for cosmetic products has been banned. In these computational clinical trials, the preclinical and clinical trials are carried out, addressing and investigating how a treatment behaves in numerous clinically relevant cases without time, financial, or ethical constraints. We believe that such trials can bring about reduced barriers in the development of novel laser devices for clinical use and facilitate their rapid clinical application in the medical field.



Related articles

Yu Shimojo, Takahiro Nishimura, Hisanao Hazama, Nobuhisa Ito, Kunio Awazu, "Picosecond Laser-Induced Photothermal Skin Damage Evaluation by Computational Clinical Trial," Laser Therapy 29(1):61-72 (2020). 

Takahiro Nishimura, Yu Shimojo, Kunio Awazu: "Computer-aided Regulatory Science for Laser Medicine," Journal of Japan Society for Laser Surgery and Medicine 41(1):37-43 (2020). [in Japanese]