[Argon plasma surgery (APC) in the upper aerodigestive tract. Initial results]

Cold knife surgery, electrosurgery and laser surgery all offer techniques, instruments, equipment and systems for resecting and destroying mucosal lesions and for hemostasis in the upper aerodigestive tract. When used in the head and neck, argon plasma surgery (APS) offers a new, contact-free, electrosurgical technique in which high frequency current is applied through ionized, and thus electrically conductive, argon(argon plasma) to the tissue undergoing treatment. Especially noteworthy in APS are its advantages for removing a lesion and controlling bleeding: the technique is easy to control, and the depth of the thermal tissue destruction is limited to a maximum of 3 mm even in wide-area application, so that damage to adjacent or submucosal tissues can be avoided. Initial results with APS in the reduction of hyperplastic nasal turbinates, treatment of hereditary hemorrhagic teleangiectasia (Osler's disease) in the nasal mucosa, and in treating progressive juvenile papillomatosis of the larynx have shown clear advantages for APS over other methods used.