This comprehensive text is suitable for researchers and graduate students of a hot new topic in medical physics.

Written by the worlds leading experts,  this book aims to present recent developments in plasma medicine, both technological and scientific, reviewed in a fashion accessible to the highly interdisciplinary audience consisting of doctors, physicists, biologists, chemists and other scientists, university students and professors, engineers and medical practitioners.

The book focuses on major topics and covers the physics required to develop novel plasma discharges relevant for medical applications, the medicine to apply the technology not only in-vitro but also in-vivo testing and the biology to understand complicated bio-chemical processes involved in plasma interaction with living tissues.

Alexander Fridman,Ph.D., Dr.Sci., is a Nyheim Chair Professor and director of the A.J. Drexel Plasma Institute, working on new plasma approaches to material treatment, fuel conversion, environmental control and bio-medical applications. He is one the pioneers of Plasma Medicine, President of the International Society on plasma Medicine. Dr. Fridman is author of six books and over 450 publications in scientific journals. He has received numerous awards, including Stanley Kaplan Distinguished Professorship of University of Illinois and George Soros Distinguished Professorship in Physics, the DuPont research award, Chernobyl award, University of Illinois and Drexel University Outstanding Research awards, Kurchatov Gold Medal for Achievements in Science and Technology.

Gary Friedman, PhD, is a Professor of Electrical Engineering as well as Professor of Surgery in Drexel University. He is Associate Director of the Drexel Plasma Institute, leading the direction of plasma medicine. He is a world renowned specialist in novel engineering methods in medicine, especially in plasma medicine. He is an author of pioneering works related to bio-physics and bio-chemistry of plasma interactions with living tissue. He made significant contribution in plasma applications for wound treatment. Dr. Gary Friedman also has extensive experience in modeling and design of magnetic devices.

Preface xv

Acknowledgements xvii

1 Introduction to Fundamental and Applied Aspects of Plasma Medicine 1

1.1 Plasma medicine as a novel branch of medical technology 1

1.2 Why plasma can be a useful tool in medicine 4

1.3 Natural and man-made, completely and weakly ionized plasmas 5

1.4 Plasma as a non-equilibrium multi-temperature system 7

1.5 Gas discharges as plasma sources for biology and medicine 9

1.6 Plasma chemistry as the fundamental basis of plasma medicine 13

1.7 Non-thermal plasma interaction with cells and living tissues 14

1.8 Applied plasma medicine 15

2 Fundamentals of Plasma Physics and Plasma Chemistry for Biological and Medical Applications 19

2.1 Elementary plasma generation processes 19

2.2 Excited species in plasma medicine: Excitation, relaxation and dissociation of neutral particles in plasma 31

2.3 Elementary plasma-chemical reactions of excited neutrals and ions 39

2.4 Plasma statistics, thermodynamics, and transfer processes 46

2.5 Plasma kinetics: Energy distribution functions of electrons and excited atoms and molecules 58

2.6 Plasma electrodynamics 68

3 Selected Concepts in Biology and Medicine for Physical Scientists 81

3.1 Molecular basis of life: Organic molecules primer 81

3.2 Function and classification of living forms 96

3.3 Cells: Organization and functions 97

3.4 Overview of anatomy and physiology 124

4 Major Plasma Disharges and their Applicability for Plasma Medicine 165

4.1 Electric breakdown and steady-state regimes of non-equilibrium plasma discharges 165

4.2 Glow discharge and its application to biology and medicine 177

4.3 Arc discharge and its medical applications 191

4.4 Radio-frequency and microwave discharges in plasma medicine 208

4.5 Coronas, DBDs, plasma jets, sparks and other non-thermal atmospheric-pressure streamer discharges 232

4.6 Discharges in liquids 253

5 Mechanisms of Plasma Interactions with Cells 269

5.1 Main interaction stages and key players 269

5.2 Role of plasma electrons and ions 272

5.3 Role of UV, hydrogen peroxide, ozone and water 276

5.4 Biological mechanisms of plasma interaction for mammalian cells 281

6 Plasma Sterilization of Different Surfaces and Living Tissues 293

6.1 Non-thermal plasma surface sterilization at low pressures 293

6.2 Surface microorganism inactivation by non-equilibrium high-pressure plasma 295

6.3 Plasma species and factors active for sterilization 304

6.4 Physical and biochemical effects of atmospheric-pressure air plasma on microorganisms 313

6.5 Animal and human living tissue sterilization 320

6.6 Generated active species and plasma sterilization of living tissues 324

6.7 Deactivation/destruction of microorganisms due to plasma sterilization: Are they dead or just scared to death? 329

7 Plasma Decontamination ofWater and Air Streams 339

7.1 Non-thermal plasma sterilization of air streams 339

7.2 Direct and indirect effects in non-thermal plasma deactivation of airborne bacteria 347

7.3 Non-thermal plasma in air-decontamination: Air cleaning from SO2 and NOx 353

7.4 Non-thermal plasma decontamination of air from volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions 361

7.5 Plasma desinfection and sterilization of water 378

8 Plasma Treatment of Blood 389

8.1 Plasma-assisted blood coagulation 389

8.2 Effect of non-thermal plasma on improvement of rheological properties of blood 395

9 Plasma-assisted Healing and Treatment of Diseases 403

9.1 Wound healing and plasma treatment of wounds 403

9.2 Treatment of inflammatory dysfunctions 418

9.3 Plasma treatment of cancer 422

9.4 Plasma applications in dentistry 428

9.5 Plasma surgery 433

10 Plasma Pharmacology 435

10.1 Non-thermal plasma treatment of water 435

10.2 Deionized water treatment with DBD in different gases: Experimental setup 436

10.3 Deionized water treatment with DBD in different gases: Results and discussion 438

10.4 Enhanced antimicrobial effect due to organic components dissolved in water 442

10.5 Summary 446

11 Plasma-assisted Tissue Engineering and Plasma Processing of Polymers 447

11.1 Regulation of biological properties of medical polymer materials 447

11.2 Plasma-assisted cell attachment and proliferation on polymer scaffolds 448

11.3 Plasma-assisted tissue engineering in control of stem cells and tissue regeneration 451

11.4 Plasma-chemical polymerization of hydrocarbons and formation of thin polymer films 453

11.5 Interaction of non-thermal plasma with polymer surfaces 461

References 483

Index 497