ARGON PLASMA SURGERY (APS) IN THE UPPER AERODIGESTIVE TRACT - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS

Cold knife surgery, electrosurgery and laser surgery a II offer techni ques, instruments, equipment and systems for resecting and destroying mucosal lesions and for hemostasis in the upper aerodigestive tract.Wh en used in the head and neck, argon plasma surgery (APS) offers a new, contact-free, electrosurgical technique in which high-frequency curre nt is applied through ionized, and thus electrically conductive, argon (argon plasma) to the tissue undergoing treatment. Especially notewor thy in APS are its advantages for removing a lesion acid controlling b leeding: the technique is easy to control, and the depth of thermal ti ssue destruction is limited to a maximum of 3 mm even in wide-area app lication,so that damage to adjacent or submucosal tissues can be avoid ed.Initial results with APS in the reduction of hyperplastic nasal tur binates, treatment of hereditary hemorrhagic teleangiectasia (Osler's disease) in the nasal mucosa, and in treating progressive juvenile pap illomatosis of the larynx have shown clear advantages for APS over oth er methods used.