A Novel Ultrasonic Bone Scalpel In Surgical Treatment Of Constrictive Pericarditis

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By Selim Isbir, MD, Koray Ak, MD, Özgür Gürsu, MD, and Sinan Arsan, MD

This is a novel usage of an ultrasonic bone scalpel in cardiothoracic surgery used to operate on what is normally one of the most difficult situations that we face, namely the pericardiectomy of a calcified pericardium. A bone scalpel is atraumatic to soft tissues and causes no hyperthermic injury to soft tissue and therefore will not cut or burn the myocardium. The potential use of this in cardiothoracic surgery is in the decalcification of structures such as a calcified pericardium or potentially calcified aortic roots and valves. This video demonstrates its use in pericardiectomy.