Atmospheric pressure plasma jets have a long history of more than 50 years. During this time their design and plasma generation mechanism has been developed and adapted to various fields of applications. This review aims at giving an overview of jet devices by starting with a brief history of their development. This is followed by an overview of commonly used terms and definitions as well as a survey of different classification schemes (e.g. geometry, excition frequency or specific energy input) described in literature. A selective update of new designs and novel research achievments on atmospheric pressure plasma jets published in 2012 or later shows the impressive variety and rapid development of the field. Finally, a brief outlook on the future trends and directions is given.

The rate of microscopic incomplete resections of gastrointestinal cancers including pancreatic cancer has not changed considerably over the past years. Future intra-operative applications of tissue tolerable plasmas (TTP) could help to address this problem. Plasma is generated by feeding energy, like electrical discharges, to gases. The development of non-thermal atmospheric plasmas displaying spectra of temperature within or just above physiological ranges allows biological or medical applications of plasmas.

Plasma medicine is an innovative research field combining plasma physics, life science, and clinical medicine. It is mainly focused on the application cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) in therapeutic settings. Based on its ability to inactivate microorganisms but also to stimulate tissue regeneration, current medical applications are focused on the treatment of wounds and skin diseases. Since CAP is also able to inactivate cancer cells, its use in cancer therapy is expected to be the next field of clinical plasma application. Other promising applications are expected in oral medicine and ophthalmology. It is the current state of knowledge that biological CAP effects are mainly based on the action of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species supported by electrical fields and UV radiation. However, continuing basic research is not only essential to improve, optimize, and enlarge the spectrum of medical CAP applications and their safety, but it is also the basis for identification and definition of a single parameter or set of parameters to monitor and control plasma treatment and its effects. In the field of CAP plasma devices, research and application are currently dominated by two basic types: dielectric barrier discharges and plasma jets. Its individual adaptation to specific medical needs, including its combination with technical units for continuous and real-time monitoring of both plasma performance and the target that is treated, will lead to a new generation of CAP-based therapeutic systems.