Plasma Medicine: Applications of Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma in Dermatology

The ability to produce cold plasma at atmospheric pressure conditions was the basis for the rapid growth of plasma-related application areas in biomedicine. Plasma comprises a multitude of active components such as charged particles, electric current, UV radiation, and reactive gas species which can act synergistically. Anti-itch, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, tissue-stimulating, blood flow-enhancing, and proapoptotic effects were demonstrated in in vivo and in vitro experiments, and until now, no resistance of pathogens against plasma treatment was observed. The combination of the different active agents and their broad range of positive effects on various diseases, especially easily accessible skin diseases, renders plasma quite attractive for applications in medicine. For medical applications, two different types of cold plasma appear suitable: indirect (plasma jet) and direct (dielectric barrier discharge—DBD) plasma sources. The DBD device PlasmaDerm® VU-2010 (CINOGY Technologies GmbH), the atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) kINPen® MED (INP Greifswald/neoplas tools GmbH), and the SteriPlas (Adtec Ltd., London, United Kingdom) are CE-certified as a medical product to treat chronic wounds in humans and showed efficacy and a good tolerability. Recently, the use of plasma in cancer research and oncology is of particular interest. Plasma has been shown to induce proapoptotic effects more efficiently in tumor cells compared with the benign counterparts, leads to cellular senescence, and—as shown in vivo—reduces skin tumors. To this end, a world-wide first Leibniz professorship for plasmabiotechnology in dermatology has been introduced to establish a scientific network for the investigation of the efficacy and safety of cold atmospheric plasma in dermatooncology. Hence, plasma medicine especially in dermatology holds great promise.

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Long-Term Risk Assessment for Medical Application of Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma

Diagnostics ◽

10.3390/diagnostics10040210 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. 210 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Rico Rutkowski ◽

Georg Daeschlein ◽

Thomas von Woedtke ◽

Ralf Smeets ◽

Martin Gosau ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Atmospheric Pressure ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma ◽

Laser Scanning Microscopy ◽

Confocal Laser ◽

Plasma Medicine ◽

Pressure Plasma ◽

Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma

Despite increasing knowledge gained based on multidisciplinary research, plasma medicine still raises various questions regarding specific effects as well as potential risks. With regard to significant statements about in vivo applicability that cannot be prognosticated exclusively based on in vitro data, there is still a deficit of clinical data. This study included a clinical follow-up of five probands who had participated five years previously in a study on the influence of cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAP) on the wound healing of CO2 laser-induced skin lesions. The follow-up included a complex imaging diagnostic involving dermatoscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and hyperspectral imaging (HSI). Hyperspectral analysis showed no relevant microcirculatory differences between plasma-treated and non-plasma-treated areas. In summary of all the findings, no malignant changes, inflammatory reactions or pathological changes in cell architecture could be detected in the plasma-treated areas. These unique in vivo long-term data contribute to a further increase in knowledge about important safety aspects in regenerative plasma medicine. However, to confirm these findings and secure indication-specific dose recommendations, further clinical studies are required.

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Study of atmospheric pressure plasma jet parameters generated by DC voltage driven cold plasma source

Journal of Applied Physics ◽

10.1063/1.4986636 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 122 (6) ◽

pp. 063301 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Xingxing Wang ◽

Alexey Shashurin

Keyword(s):

Atmospheric Pressure ◽

Cold Plasma ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma ◽

Plasma Jet ◽

Plasma Source ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet ◽

Dc Voltage ◽

Pressure Plasma

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Atmospheric-pressure plasma sources: Prospective tools for plasma medicine

Pure and Applied Chemistry ◽

10.1351/pac-con-09-10-35 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 82 (6) ◽

pp. 1223-1237 ◽

Cited By ~ 254

Author(s):

Klaus Dieter Weltmann ◽

Eckhard Kindel ◽

Thomas von Woedtke ◽

Marcel Hähnel ◽

Manfred Stieber ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Atmospheric Pressure ◽

Chronic Wounds ◽

Skin Diseases ◽

Biological Effects ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma ◽

Plasma Medicine ◽

Physical Point ◽

Plasma Sources ◽

Pressure Plasma ◽

Technical Requirements

Plasma-based treatment of chronic wounds or skin diseases as well as tissue engineering or tumor treatment is an extremely promising field. First practical studies are promising, and plasma medicine as an independent medical field is emerging worldwide. While during the last years the basics of sterilizing effects of plasmas were well studied, concepts of tailor-made plasma sources which meet the technical requirements of medical instrumentation are still less developed. Indeed, studies on the verification of selective antiseptic effects of plasmas are required, but the development of advanced plasma sources for biomedical applications and a profound knowledge of their physics, chemistry, and parameters must be contributed by physical research. Considering atmospheric-pressure plasma sources, the determination of discharge development and plasma parameters is a great challenge, due to the high complexity and limited diagnostic approaches. This contribution gives an overview on plasma sources for therapeutic applications in plasma medicine. Selected specific plasma sources that are used for the investigation of various biological effects are presented and discussed. Furthermore, the needs, prospects, and approaches for its characterization from the fundamental plasma physical point of view will be discussed.

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Amplitude-modulated cold atmospheric pressure plasma jet for treatment of oral candidiasis: In vivo study

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0199832 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. e0199832 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Aline Chiodi Borges ◽

Gabriela de Morais Gouvêa Lima ◽

Thalita Mayumi Castaldelli Nishime ◽

Aline Vidal Lacerda Gontijo ◽

Konstantin Georgiev Kostov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Atmospheric Pressure ◽

Oral Candidiasis ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma ◽

Plasma Jet ◽

In Vivo Study ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet ◽

Pressure Plasma ◽

Cold Atmospheric Pressure Plasma

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High-Accuracy Surface Topography Manufacturing for Continuous Phase Plates Using an Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet

Micromachines ◽

10.3390/mi12060683 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 683

Author(s):

Huiliang Jin ◽

Caixue Tang ◽

Haibo Li ◽

Yuanhang Zhang ◽

Yaguo Li

Keyword(s):

Surface Topography ◽

Atmospheric Pressure ◽

High Efficiency ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma ◽

Plasma Jet ◽

Continuous Phase ◽

High Accuracy ◽

Phase Plate ◽

Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet ◽

Pressure Plasma

The continuous phase plate (CPP) is the vital diffractive optical element involved in laser beam shaping and smoothing in high-power laser systems. The high gradients, small spatial periods, and complex features make it difficult to achieve high accuracy when manufacturing such systems. A high-accuracy and high-efficiency surface topography manufacturing method for CPP is presented in this paper. The atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) system is presented and the removal characteristics are studied to obtain the optimal processing parameters. An optimized iterative algorithm based on the dwell point matrix and a fast Fourier transform (FFT) is proposed to improve the accuracy and efficiency in the dwell time calculation process. A 120 mm × 120 mm CPP surface topography with a 1326.2 nm peak-to-valley (PV) value is fabricated with four iteration steps after approximately 1.6 h of plasma processing. The residual figure error between the prescribed surface topography and plasma-processed surface topography is 28.08 nm root mean square (RMS). The far-field distribution characteristic of the plasma-fabricated surface is analyzed, for which the energy radius deviation is 11 μm at 90% encircled energy. The experimental results demonstrates the potential of the APPJ approach for the manufacturing of complex surface topographies.

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