title: Irrigation system equipped on a high-speed air drill--technical note.
abstract: An irrigation system which can easily be applied to the conventional high-speed air drill was developed to allow simultaneous irrigation during micro-drilling. The irrigation system is constructed with a tube of 0.8 mm outer diameter and supporting rings. Irrigation is entirely coordinated with drilling by a single foot switch. The tube of the system ejects normal saline intermittently toward the cutter bar tip. Use of this system in skull base surgery showed that effective irrigation and a clean operative field was achieved even in a narrow space under the operating microscope, saline is ejected exactly on the point of drilling and over-heating does not occur so that heat-related damage to the local nerves and blood vessels is avoided. The system can easily be applied to any type of high-speed air drill by using supporting rings of the correct size. This irrigation system is particularly useful in microneurosurgery using the high-speed air drill.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Neurosurgery, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tsuzuki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yanai
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kukita
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Samejima
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shinyama
mesh_terms: D000399:Air Pressure; D003399:Craniotomy / Q000295:instrumentation; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D008866:Microsurgery / Q000295:instrumentation; D009493:Neurosurgery / Q000295:instrumentation*; D007507:Therapeutic Irrigation / Q000295:instrumentation*