Surgical removal of orbital tumors by orbital approach using ultrasonic surgical system SONOPET®

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Orbital tumor surgery can be challenging when the tumor is located in a very narrow surgical field and close to important structures, such as nerves or extraocular muscles that can be damaged during surgery. Advances in technology and special surgical techniques help to avoid such damage. We describe our experience using SONOPET® ultrasonic surgical aspirator to remove 12 different orbital tumors that were difficult to treat due to their poorly defined borders, adhesions, or location.

Methods

This is a retrospective case series that describes 12 operations that occurred between March 2016 to December 2018 using an ultrasonic device to debulk or remove orbital tumors. Different approaches and handpieces were used for each case depending on the location and consistency of the tumor.

Results

All patients experienced an improvement in preoperative signs and symptoms, pain, proptosis, diplopia, or lagophthalmos. Visual acuity, which had been reduced due to the tumor, was also recovered. There were no intraoperative or postoperative complications due to the use of the device.

Conclusions

The ultrasonic aspirator is a safe, useful device that can successfully remove or debulk infiltrating orbital masses through any orbital access, regardless of their consistency. It is helpful in cases of difficult anatomical access or difficult extraction due to size or adhesions to the surrounding tissues.

KEYWORDS:

• Orbital
• SONOPET®
• surgery
• tumor
• ultrasonic surgical system

Author contributions statement

AB-G conceived, and designed the study and performed the analyses. AB-G, M-DL-LL, EM-G, AM-C, ES, and MG-C wrote the manuscript. All authors edited and reviewed the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no financial or conflicts of interest to disclosure.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, EM-G, upon reasonable request.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants include in the study.