CO2 laser-assisted transoral surgery of the pharynx, the larynx and the upper airway is a family of commonly performed surgical procedures termed transoral laser microsurgery (TLM). TLM was initially intended for the treatment of early laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers using the CO2 laser straight beam in combination with a surgical microscope. Recent advances and refinements of laser tools and surgical techniques now make it possible to use lasers, delivered through different methods, for advanced carcinomas, microendoscopic laryngotracheal reconstruction, treatment of recurrent respiratory papillomas and phonomicrosurgery. The abbreviation TLM can be confusing because of alternative modes of delivery.
The authors, members of the Working Committee for Nomenclature of the European Laryngological Society (ELS), propose a classification and definition of the different types of procedures, performed trans-orally or trans-nasally, emphasizing the type of laser used and the way this laser is transmitted. Only the pharynx and larynx are concerned in this ELS classification and not the ear.
Read all about it in the European Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, now available for download ---->
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“While scanning free beam technology is the gold standard for CO2 laser surgery, ENT surgeons are often faced with patients who have access challenges to line-of-sight techniques, including the distal airway, that cannot be addressed with one single laser modality. With the scanning free beam and fiber integration in one CO2 laser solution, which is only available in the UltraPulse DUO, I am able to deliver unparalleled treatments throughout the larynx and aero-digestive tract with full flexibility and precision.”
Paul Castellanos, M.D., Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
