The use of 1.32 Nd:YAG laser in neurosurgery: experimental data and clinical experience from 70 patients.

The authors present their experience with the 1.32 mum Nd:YAG laser in neurosurgical procedures. In a first step, they conducted experiments on rat cortex. The thermic data and histologic results confirmed that the 1.32 Nd:YAG laser has physical properties quite close to the CO2 laser. Furthermore, the fact that the 1.32 mum wavelength can be conducted through optic fibers makes it well adapted to neurosurgery. The authors present experimental data (50 rats) and comment on their surgical experience with such a wavelength (70 patients). In the future, this laser should see its indications broadened in conventional neurosurgical procedures as well as in endoscopic and stereotactic neurosurgery.