The role of operating variables in improving the performance of skull base grinding

Control of the thermal and physical damage during skull base grinding is of great importance. We assess the effects of bur material (3 materials), angle of the bur (10 angles), bur diameter (10 diameters), gas coolant (4 coolants), and grinding time (10 times) to evaluate the role of operating variables in thermal and physical damage during skull bone grinding. After validation of finite element analysis (FEA) results with experimental data, the temperature in the grinding site and axial force are calculated using FEA. The use of a diamond bur leads to at least 24.48 and 12.9% reduction in thermal and physical damage, respectively. A change in angle of the bur from 0º to 90º leads to a 19.76-31.62 times increment in axial force. An increase in bur diameter from 1 to 5.5 mm led to 10.78-14.36% and 23.43-43.90% increase in maximum temperature and axial force, respectively. However, a bur diameter between 2.5 and 4 mm could provide enough grinding force with less thermal damage. Skull base grinding with dry (D) and normal saline (NS) coolants was always accompanied with thermal damage. The results of maximum and duration of temperature, axial force, and surface defect evaluation show CO₂ coolants (especially internal CO₂ coolant) are the best options to decrease thermal damage. The equations of temperature and axial force were estimated by regression analysis. This may be used as a guideline for neurosurgeons to control damage during skull base grinding and can also be helpful for the programming of robot-assisted skull grinding during surgery.