Blue diode laser versus traditional infrared diode laser and quantic molecular resonance scalpel: clinical and histological findings after excisional biopsy of benign oral lesions

This study aims to compare the use of the innovative blue diode laser (BLUE group) with two traditional surgical tech niques: the infrared diode laser (IR group) and the quantic molecular resonance scalpel (QMR group) in the excision of benign oral lesions. Ninety-three patients underwent surgical excision of a benign oral lesion and were followed up for 30 days for pain (0 to 10 visual analogue scale), bleeding, and painkillers' assumption (yes/no). A blind pathologist evaluated the thermal damage along the cutting margin. Although referred pain was lowest in the BLUE group from day 7 on (p < 0.05), all patients referred minimum discomfort after surgery. The BLUE group reported minimum bleeding and necessity of sutures (p < 0.000). The QMR group showed the highest bleeding during surgery (p < 0.000), while after 14 and 30 days no patient bled. Most of the patients in all groups did not need painkillers. The lowest thermal damage (p < 0.000) was found in the BLUE group (71.3 +/- 51.8 mu m), whereas the IR group proved the highest (186.8 +/- 82.7 mu m) compared both with the BLUE and QMR (111.4 +/- 55.4 mu m) groups. All the techniques allowed correct histological sampling. All the experimented techniques offer interesting advantages, although the blue laser minimizes risk of bleeding with limited thermal damage. (C) 2017 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers