Thermal injury
Heat transfer from bipolar forceps tips to adjacent tissue presents a risk of thermal injury during surgery.
Bipolar forceps that incorporate heat pipe technology limited thermal spread and reduced the extent of unintended injury to the spinal cord and collateral vessels 1).
Traumatic basilar artery aneurysm: possibly related to thermal injury from use of laser in performing ETV 2).
1)
Elliott-Lewis EW, Jolette J, Ramos J, Benzel EC. Thermal damage assessment of
novel bipolar forceps in a sheep model of spinal surgery. Neurosurgery. 2010
Jul;67(1):166-71; discussion 171-2. PubMed PMID: 20568670.
2)
McLaughlin MR, Wahlig JB, Kaufmann AM, Albright AL. Traumatic Basilar Aneurysm After Endoscopic Third Ventriculostomy: Case Report. Neurosurgery. 1997; 41:1400–1404