ISSN:
0942-0940
Keywords:
Keywords: Argon plasma coagulation; APC; haemostasis; brain tumour; skull base.
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Summary Objective. We first applied a novel haemostatic strategy involving Argon Plasma Coagulation (APC), an innovative no-touch electrocoagulation technique in which a high-frequency alternating current is delivered to the tissue through ionized argon gas, to brain tumour surgery, and report its usefulness and limitations. Methods. The APC system we used comprised an APC 300 developed by ERBE Elektromedizin GmbH, Germany. We applied APC to 13 brain tumours in 12 patients (5 meningiomas, 4 sarcomas, 2 glioblastomas, and 2 pituitary adenomas). To avoid unnecessary thermal injury to the tissue as much as possible, power/gas flow settings of 20 and 40 W were used. The impact time was varied individually but was around several seconds per one impact. The argon jet (1.5–4.5 L/min) clears a field of pooled blood and evenly conducts electrical energy to the target tissue. A thin and flexible probe particularly increased the usefulness of APC for haemostasis on deep-seated skull base tumour operations under a microscope. Conclusion. All patients were successfully treated and satisfied with the surgical results without any complications due to APC. APC appears to be an excellent alternative strategy for achieving haemostasis on vascular-rich brain tumour surgery, and may be valuable for the management of patients with coagulation defects.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s007010070021
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