Plasma Processes and Plasma Sources in Medicine

Abstract

The use of plasma for healthcare can be dated back as far as the middle of the 19th century. Only the development of room temperature atmospheric pressure plasma sources in the past decade, however, has opened the new and fast growing interdisciplinary research field of plasma medicine. Three main topics can be distinguished: plasma treated implants, plasma decontamination, and plasmas in medical therapy. Understanding of the plasma sources and the plasma processes involved is still incomplete. With the aim of a more fundamental insight we investigate plasmas in a) functionalization of implants with antimicrobial as well as cell attachment enhancing surfaces b) atmospheric pressure plasmas (APPs) in inactivation of bacteria, decontamination of bottles and food products, as well as medical equipment and c) APPs in medical therapy and their effects on cell viability as a means to finding a plasma "dosage". The possibilities of an application focused designing of plasma sources will be emphasized. On the example of feed gas humidity and its significant influence the importance of determining and controlling unobvious or hidden parameter is demonstrated.

Impact of plasma jet vacuum ultraviolet radiation on reactive oxygen species generation in bio-relevant liquids

“…[1][2][3][4][5] The strongly non-equilibrium chemistry along with their physical properties of energy transfer into sensible surfaces makes them excellently suited for treatment of, e.g., chronic wounds. [6][7][8][9] The energy dissipated within the plasma is transferred into thermal, chemical, electronic, and radiative energy, to name the most relevant examples.…”

Non-thermal plasma treatment induces MAPK signaling in human monocytes

“…It exhibits temperatures below thermal cell damage and has a unique composition of exited atoms, ions, electrons, neutral molecules, free radicals, electric fields, ultraviolet (UV), thermal and infrared radiation [1,2]. Its antibacterial effects are well documented [3,4] and there have been various medical applications such as decontamination of heat sensitive endoscopes and ablation of dental biofilms [5,6].…”

Time resolved optical emission spectroscopy in power modulated atmospheric pressure plasma jet

“…), plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) of thin films, plasma decontamination of toxic compounds, and recently in biomedical application and plasma medicine [1][2][3][4][5][6]. The dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) [1,2] and atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJ) [7] belong to the most successful designs.…”