Combination Use of the Laser Surgical Unit and the Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator

Abstract

We performed surgery on 11 cases of brain tumor using the CO₂ laser surgical unit in combination with the ultrasonic surgical aspirator. The CO₂ laser scalpel which we used is the Medilaser-S Model MEL-442 which was developed by T. Takizawa and his team for neurosurgery. And the ultrasonic surgical aspirator which we used is the Cavitron Ultrasonic Surgical Aspirator (CUSA) which was developed by E. S. Flamm. The CO₂ laser scalpel can bloodlessly vaporize brain tumor with minimal damage to the neural tissue surrounding the tumor. But in cases where the vital arteries or veins run through the tumor, it is very dangerous to vaporize the tumor tissue blindly because this might lead to an inadvertent lasing of vital blood vessels. In such cases, the CUSA system is very useful because it leaves the arteries intact during removal of tumor tissue. In this paper the the surgical techniques to remove brain tumors using the CO₂ laser scalpel in combination with the CUSA system are shown together with the 16 mm movie film and the slides. The advantages and disadvantages of the CO₂ laser scalpel and the CUSA system are discussed in the case presentation.