Introduction: Many advancements have been made in the field of endoscopic surgery in recent years. Fully endoscopic surgery is being used in pituitary operations and for removing hematoma, and endoscope-assisted surgery has been reported to be useful in craniotomy. We tested a new endoscope capable of producing high-definition images that allow for detailed observations at high resolution, and investigated its utility in endoscope-assisted craniotomies performed.
Methods: A new endoscope was compared to an old endoscope in endoscope-assisted craniotomies performed at our hospital. Images taken of the same field of view with the new endarm and old endarm were compared in each case. In this study, 47 cases (27 cases of cerebral aneurysm, 12 cases of acoustic schwannoma, 4 cases of microvascular decompression, 4 cases of skull base neoplasm) treated at our hospital from April 1, 2013, to April 1, 2014 were examined.
Results: The new endoscope improved differentiation of perforators and arachnoid trabeculae in aneurysm clipping. In cases of acoustic schwannoma and microvascular decompression, it allowed nerves and tumors to be distinguished at high levels of precision. The new microscope enabled highly precise identification of anatomical structures. However, many issues remain to be resolved, such as the difficulty of evaluating blood flow using the endoscope alone and the inability to obtain 3-dimensional images.
Conclusions: Use of a new, high-definition endoscope in endoscope-assisted craniotomy enabled the operation to be performed with a high degree of precision.
Patient Care: Hihg definition image of neuroewndoscope enabled safety clipping and tumorectomy.
Learning Objectives: By the conclusion of this session, participants should be able to describe the importance of high definition image and neuroenoscope assisted craniotomy.