Piezoelectric bone surgery in otologic surgery

Abstract

he aim of this work has been to evaluate the use ofPiezosurgery in the different otological surgical tech-niques. Piezoelectric bone surgery, also known simply asPiezosurgery, is a new technique for osteotomy and osteo-plasty. The equipment consists of two piezoelectric hand-pieces and two inserts that are connected to a main unit.This unit supplies power and has holders for the handpieceand irrigation fluids. It contains two peristaltic pumps forcooling during surgery with a jet of physiological solutionthat discharges from the 1,2inserts (Fig 1).The piezoelectric device uses low-frequency ultrasonicwaves (25-30 kHz) that are created by the piezoelectriceffect. (certain ceramics and crystals are modified when anelectric current is passed across them, which causes anoscillation that has an ultrasonic frequency). The instru-ment’s power can be modulated between 2.8 and 16 W, inaccordance to the density of the bone. The microvibrationsthat are created in the piezoelectric handpiece cause theinserts to vibrate linearly between 60 and 210 m.Appropriate handpieces and inserts (Fig 2) have beencreated for platinotomy, antroatticotomy, mastoidectomy,and endoauricular osteotomy, with the width, thickness, andangle of the inserts depending on the applied power, bonedensity, and surgical technique.