Piezosurgery in otologic surgery: Four years of experience

Abstract

The piezoelectric device is a new and revolutionary bony scalpel using the microvibrations at ultrasonic frequency so that soft tissue will not be damaged even on accidental contact with the cutting tip; this renders the piezoelectric device ideal for otologic bone surgery.

Piezoelectric stapedotomy: the importance of a micropulse program

“…The piezoelectric device was used in all intraoperative steps, with specific inserts as described in our previous publications [2,3,9,11] (Figure 2). …”

“…The footplate was pierced using a specific 30 angular insert, of different diameter (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8 mm), coated with diamond [2,3,9,11] (Figure 3). …”

“…Among them, Piezosurgery Ò (Mectron Medical Technology, Carasco, Genoa, Italy) is a recently developed system for cutting bone with microvibrations at ultrasonic frequency [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. The equipment consists of two handpieces, two inserts, and two peristaltic pumps connected to the control unit for evacuating detritus during surgery with a jet of physiological solution that discharges from the inserts.…”

“…The device uses low frequency ultrasonic waves (24.7-29.5 kHz), the applied power can be modulated between 2.8 and 16 W, and the machine is programmed in accordance with the density of the bone to be cut. The microvibrations created in the piezoelectric handpiece cause the inserts to vibrate linearly between 60 and 210 mm [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] (Figure 1).…”

“…In particular, a specific operative program has been created for stapedotomy to avoid involuntary error of power regulation. This program allows perforation of the footplate of the stapes with a predetermined and not modifiable temporization, with single spot for a period of 1/200 s [2,3,9,11]. Because the piezoelectric device has been used successfully in stapedotomy in our department, the aim of this study was to describe the importance of this program in determining the success of piezoelectric stapedotomy.…”