Pneumatic Kerrison rongeur: technical note.
BACKGROUND
We report our experience with the Aesculap Pneumatic Powered Kerrison Rongeur (Aesculap AG Company) Tuttlingen, Germany.


METHODS
Between February 2007 and January 2008, 125 patients underwent spinal surgery for the treatment of spinal stenosis, spinal tumors, degenerative disk disease, and herniated disks in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar areas using the pneumatic-powered Kerrison rongeur for bone and tissue removal.


RESULTS
All bone removal for procedures ranging from cervical and lumbar microdiscectomies to extensive multilevel laminectomies was carried out with no complications from instrument design or malfunction. Most importantly, the manual labor required to forcefully squeeze and bite bone was virtually eliminated. The learning curve for instrument application was negligible. Operating room personnel similarly had no difficulty with the simplified tubing connections to an air supply and the Kerrison handle with interchangeable, multisized shafts.


CONCLUSIONS
The new pneumatically powered Kerrison rongeur not only is safe and easy to use but also virtually eliminates the manual fatigue and, at times, pain associated with prolonged bone removal from the use of standard Kerrison rongeurs.
Maroon
Joseph C
JC
Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
El-Kadi
Matt
M
Bost
Jeffrey
J
D000399:Air Pressure; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D007796:Laminectomy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D013131:Spine / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000601:surgery*; D013525:Surgical Instruments / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends*