Posters

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 201 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0196-8092
• DOI: 10.1002/lsm.20175

✦ Synopsis

Background and Objectives: The neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant heritable disorder with development of thousands of dermal neurofibromas causing complications, stigmatisation and social problems in the private or professional surrounding. Up to now the surgical or laser surgical removal of the neurofibroma remains to be the treatment of first choice. Study Design/results: Up to now 223 patients were treated and about 175000 neurofibromas were removed in 414 sessions with CO 2 -Laser using different techniques. The average age of the patients was 43 years (range 7-78 years) with a distribution of sex of 1:1.6 (male: female). All treatments were done in general anaesthesia with an average operation time of about 2h (range 30 min. to 4 h 15 min). In the average 50 (range 1-540) large neurofibromas (1-15 cm size) and 378 (0-1800) small neurofibromas (>1 cm size) were removed in one session depending on subtype, size and localisation and the requests of the patients. On the average the in-patient treatment lasted 6.1 days (range 4-9 days). The wounds closed after 6 weeks or shorter and the cosmetic results were excellent to mediocre. Conclusion: Most of the patients reported of an increase in self-confidence and acceptance of the social surrounding. Only five patients developed hypertrophic scars. Our experiences in the last 8 years confirm that the removal of neurofibromas with CO 2 -laser proved to be rapid, low cost procedure to remove hundreds of neurofibroma in one session.