ENT Surgical Microscopes

Olfactory Neuroblastoma

entsurgicalmicroscopes — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:18:14 +0000

Olfactory neuroblastoma The use of microscopes in microsurgery is critical to aide the surgeons during the actual surgery. Olfactory neuroblastoma or esthesioneuroblastoma is an uncommon malignant neuroectodermal nasal tumor that accounts for approximately five percent of all malignant neoplasms. Olfactory neuroblastomas are thought to arise from the specialized sensory neuroepithelial olfactory cells that are normally found in the upper part of the nasal cavity, usually including the cribriform plate of the ethmoid sinus. These tumors affect both sexes equally. A bimodal age distribution has been documented, although patients of all ages can be affected. Patients present with nonspecific symptoms of nasal obstruction of cinseventy percent of the cases and epistaxis with fifty percent; less common symptoms include headache, pain, visual disturbances, and anosmia with less than five percent. Owing to the nonspecific nature of the presenting symptoms, patients often have a long history prior to diagnosis. (more…)

Cervical Radiculopathy

entsurgicalmicroscopes — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:16:38 +0000

You are fortunate to be living in a period of time when the concepts of traditional spine surgery are dramatically changing. Improvements in anesthesia and technological advancements in surgical techniques and equipment continue to reveal efficient new ways to perform spine surgery safely. Minimally invasive spine procedures are making it possible for patients to go home the day of or the day after surgery. These specialized procedures use tiny surgical instruments and small incisions, which affords patients speedier recoveries, fewer complications and less scarring. The purpose of this article is to introduce you to the study results from an outpatient surgical procedure used to treat Cervical Radiculopathy. However, before proceeding, you need to know what cervical radiculopathy means. Cervical radiculopathy means a spinal nerve root in the neck is irritated or compressed. The spinal nerve roots are located in the spinal canal and the neuroforamen. The neuroforamen are small holes through which the spinal nerves exit the spinal column. Outside the spine these nerves branch off into other parts of the body forming the peripheral nervous system. Nerve irritation may result from disc herniation, spinal stenosis, osteophyte formation or other degenerative disorders. Nerve irritation may cause sensory and motor abnormalities called neurologic deficit. Pain, tingling and numbness are examples of a sensory abnormality. Weakness and reflex loss are examples of a motor abnormality. (more…)

Hair Restoration Surgery

entsurgicalmicroscopes — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:15:30 +0000

The science of hair restoration includes delicate instruments like the microscope. Hair restoration has progressed rapidly since its introduction about 50 years ago. Innovative hair restoration surgeons steadily improved surgical techniques which led to refinement of the aesthetic aspects of hair transplant surgery. Contributing to progress in hair transplantation is scientific research into the physical and chemical properties of hair. While biochemical research was discovering more about the hormonal and biomolecular signals that stimulate hair growth and hair loss, other scientists were learning more about the physical properties of hair. By examining hair fibers with sophisticated chemical analysis and powerful microscopes, they discovered more about the complex structure of hair and more about the properties that differentiate hair into ethnic categories. As one investigator notes, it is important to recognize that modest differences in hair structure make all hair ethnic. The three major ethnic hair types that are generally recognized are African, Asian and Caucasian. The ethnic differences in hair characteristics are slight when viewed in the broader context of human hair versus hair from other species. The ethnic differences can, however, be important aesthetic considerations in hair transplantation. Under low power microscopic examination, a human scalp hair is seen to have an outer layer of flat scales pointing outward from root to tip. (more…)

Electron microscope, advancement in microscopy

entsurgicalmicroscopes — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:13:22 +0000

Medical examiners can now use the benefits and extensive functions of the Electron Microscope. Electron Microscopes are scientific instruments that use a beam of highly energetic electrons to examine objects on a very fine scale. This examination can yield the following information like Topography, The surface features of an object or how it looks, its texture; direct relation between these features and materials properties ;Morphology, The shape and size of the particles making up the object; direct relation between these structures and materials properties like ductility, strength, reactivity; Composition, The elements and compounds that the object is composed of and the relative amounts of them; direct relationship between composition and materials properties like melting point, reactivity, hardness; How the atoms are arranged in the object; direct relation between these arrangements and materials properties In this kind of microscope, electrons are speeded up in a vacuum until their wavelength is extremely short, only one hundred-thousandth that of white light. (more…)

Surgical Microscopes

entsurgicalmicroscopes — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:12:15 +0000

Stones from the gallbladder and analyzed in the laboratory for identification with instruments which includes microscope. Gallbladder is a small pear shaped sac attached to the underside of the liver. It is in the upper right hand side of the belly, underneath the ribs. It is a storage area for a digestive fluid called bile. The gallbladder stores bile between meals, and releases it into the stomach after meals to help with digestion; particularly digestion of fats and oils. Problem occurs when the relative concentrations of chemicals in the bile become abnormal, and stones form. These stones may stay in the gallbladder and not cause any problems. However, often they do cause symptoms of pain, loss of appetite, bloating, heartburn, nausea or vomiting. When these symptoms occur we recommend removal of the gallbladder along with the stones. If this is not done there is a risk that the stones could cause jaundice or infection. At the present time there are two available procedures for removal of the gallbladder: These are the open cholecystectomy or the laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Open Cholecystectomy is the operation that consists of making an incision through the muscles of the abdominal wall, and directly removing the gallbladder. While in Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, instead of an incision over the gallbladder area, there is a small incision by the belly button, and three smaller incisions near the gallbladder. (more…)

Introduction to Surgical Microscopes

entsurgicalmicroscopes — Mon, 14 May 2007 07:10:42 +0000

Long before, in the hazy unrecorded past, someone picked up a piece of transparent crystal thicker in the middle than at the edges, looked through it, and discovered that it made things look larger. Someone also found that such a crystal would focus the rays of the sun and set fire to a piece of parchment or cloth. Magnifiers and burning glasses or magnifying glasses are mentioned in the writings of Seneca and Pliny the Elder, Roman philosophers during the first century A. D., but apparently they were not used much until the invention of spectacles, toward the end of the 13th century. They were named lenses because they are shaped like the seeds of a lentil. The earliest simple microscope was merely a tube with a plate for the object at one end and, at the other, a lens which gave a magnification less than ten diameters ten times the actual size. These excited general wonder when used to view fleas or tiny creeping things and so were dubbed flea glasses. About 1590, two Dutch spectacle makers, Zaccharias Janssen and his son Hans, while experimenting with several lenses in a tube, discovered that nearby objects appeared greatly enlarged. That was the forerunner of the compound microscope and of the telescope. In 1609, Galileo, father of modern physics and astronomy, heard of these early experiments, worked out the principles of lenses, and made a much better instrument with a focusing device. (more…)