Pater Leander Fischer Prize 2016

The Pater Leander Fischer Prize was first presented in 1990 and is awarded biannually by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Lasermedizin (DGLM) e.V. for outstanding contributions in the field of laser medicine and biophotonics. The 2016 prize honors the best publication in the DGLM’s official journal Photonics & Lasers in Medicine from the years 2014/2015 and is endowed with a prize money of €1000. Consideration was given to all contributions which appeared either in print or online within the indicated period.

This year’s prize winner was selected from a total of 55 submissions by the six members of the award’s committee which was made up of the Editors-in-Chief of Photonics & Lasers in Medicine, the Vice President of the DGLM, Prof. Dr. Raphaela Waidelich and the DGLM Treasurer, Prof. Dr. Diethelm Wallwiener.

The selected 10 best contributions are:

1. von Tempelhoff et al.: Interstitial laser irradiation of cerebral gliomas – Neurobiological background, technique and typical results

2. Philipp et al.: Pyogenic granuloma – Nd:YAG laser treatment in 450 patients

3. Missios et al.: Prognostic factors of overall survival after laser interstitial thermal therapy in patients with glioblastoma

4. Schleusener et al.: Raman spectroscopy for the discrimination of cancerous and normal skin

5. Netz et al.: In-line optical monitoring of oxygen saturation and hematocrit for cardiopulmonary bypass: Adjustment-free and bloodless calibration

6. Schroeder et al.: Laser interstitial thermal therapy as a novel treatment modality for brain tumors in the thalamus and basal ganglia

7. Cappius et al.: Fluorescence-optical handheld non-contact sensor for rapid cleaning validation of surfaces

8. dos Santos et al.: Effects of low-level laser therapy on cartilage repair in an experimental model of osteoarthritis

9. Becker and Shcheslavskiy: Fluorescence lifetime imaging with near-infrared dyes

10. Kirschbaum: Nd:YAG Laser surgery of lung metastases

The Pater Leander Fischer Prize 2016 was awarded this year to Dr. Wernholt von Tempelhoff for his contribution on interstitial laser irradiation of cerebral gliomas:

von Tempelhoff W, Ulrich F and Schwarzmaier H-J. Interstitial laser irradiation of cerebral gliomas – Neurobiological background, technique and typical results. Photonics Lasers Med 2014; 3(2): 129–41.

Dr. v. Tempelhoff belongs to the pioneers in the use of laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) in the brain. After his successful approbation in 1984, he was further trained at the Neurosurgery University Clinic in Düsseldorf, where he worked and conducted research until 1995. In 1996 he began his career as a specialist and in 1997 he became the senior physician responsible for pediatric neurosurgery at the Department of Neurosurgery, Krefeld Clinic, the teaching hospital of the Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf. From the summer of 1997 one main focus of his activity was the neurosurgical operational management of the “open MRI” making use of the possibilities offered by image-guided neuronavigation for both the open and interstitial (LITT) therapy of gliomas and the frameless stereotactic neuronavigation. There followed internships at Harvard University, Boston (Brigham and Women’s Hospital). From June 2005, Dr. v. Tempelhoff was the head physician of the ICU of the Neurosurgery Department which was interdisciplinary managed together with the Anesthesiology Department. In March 2007 he was appointed senior physician in the Department of General Neurosurgery and Head of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery at the Neurosurgical Clinic of the University Hospital Cologne. In autumn 2014 he moved to the Clinic for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery specializing in pediatric neurosurgery, craniosynostoses, and tumors of the head and neck region.

The award ceremony will take place during the next general meeting of the DGLM.

Many congratulations to Dr. Wernholt von Tempelhoff and our sincere thanks for their commitment to all of the authors who contributed to Photonics & Lasers in Medicine!