Plasma discharges have been used in medicine since the 1960s beginning with the plasma afterglow jet of an inert gas being used for tissue sectioning with instant blood coagulation, which earned it the name “plasma scalpel”. Subsequent studies have demonstrated additional beneficial uses of plasma, particularly in the fields of living tissue sterilization, and cancer and wound treatment. In many of these applications plasma is applied directly to the tissue being treated using the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), in which the tissue is used as one of the electrodes for creating the discharge. In wound healing applications hot plasma is used to generate nitric oxide (NO) and deliver it to the wound using a long a long hose that cools NO down to room temperature as it passes through. However, such devices are bulky and energy consuming.

To provide a more convenient, portable user-friendly device for plasma generation Drexel’s researchers have created the atmospheric pressure pin-to-hole spark discharge (PHSD). The main difference of the present invention from earlier plasma generators is that it uses pulse spark, which eliminates the need to cool the plasma discharge, thus eliminating the need for a pressurized gas tank or gas line to provide gas flow across the plasma discharge. Additionally, this invention does not utilize human body as the second electrode for generating discharge. In this invention, both the HV electrode and ground electrode are integrated into one unit. The device can have a coaxial configuration, where the HV electrode is located at the center of a cylindrical ground electrode. Alternatively, the device can have two wire electrodes: one is used as the HV electrode and the other is used as the ground electrode. Reactive species produced by PHSD can be used to sterilize live tissue without damaging healthy cells, for the treatment of cancer, or, under some conditions, for the generation of nitric oxide (NO) for wound healing. In the last application, NO is generated near the wound at room temperature, providing for highly localized treatment of the target tissue with minimal effect on its surroundings.