Smoke from laser surgery: Is there a health hazard?

✍ Scribed by Camran Nezhat; Wendy K. Winer; Farr Nezhat; Ceana Nezhat; Deborah Forrest; William G. Reeves

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 635 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0196-8092
• DOI: 10.1002/lsm.1900070414

✦ Synopsis

The composition of plume produced during carbon dioxide laser endoscopic treatment for endometriosis was examined to determine whether it represented a hazard to the surgical staff. A total of 32 plume samples were collected from 17 women undergoing laser laparoscopic treatment for endometriosis and/or adhesions. The smoke was found to consist of particles having a median aerodynamic diameter of 0.31 pm with a range of 0.10-0.80 pm. The size range has two consequences: 1) using a human red blood cell as a model for all cells, it can be stated with greater than 99.9999 % certainty that no cell-size particles, including cancer cells, are present in the plume; 2) particles in this size range are too small to be effectively filtered by currently available surgical masks.