Without electrocautery, many modern surgical interventions are practically impossible. In neurosurgery, bipolar cautery forceps has been evolved to not only be an auxiliary, but as a principal instrument wielded by the dominant hand of the surgeon to navigate through the most delicate tissue that there is. The purpose of this study is to introduce our original bipolar forceps designed exclusively for microneurosurgical interventions and compare its feasibility with a standard bipolar forceps tip. This study has been conducted on two fresh cadaveric cow brains under the operating microscope. The coagulative and ablative effects of the hemispheric bipolar forceps tip (HBFT) have been histologically compared with those of the standard bipolar forceps tip (SBFT). Likewise, their efficacies as a dissection instruments have been compared via performing dissections from the parietal surface down to the corpus callosum. HBFT proved less traumatic to the uninvolved brain tissue during dissection. Also, histological analyses have revealed that ablative effects of the HBFT are more confined to the bleeding point, more effectively sparing the uninvolved brain tissue. Results of this experimental study suggest that HBFT is a better instrument to be used in microneurosurgical interventions, along with other surgical disciplines where selective diathermy is critical.
Less use of bipolar cautery can prevent post-laminectomy epidural fibrosis: an experimental study in rats