A study on a cooling method for bone grinding using diamond bur for minimally invasive surgeries

Miniature ball-end diamond wheels are widely used for bone grinding in endoscopic surgeries. During bone grinding, a considerable amount of heat is generated, which can cause thermal injuries to the tissues adjacent to bone, including nerves. In our previous studies, it was revealed that the strong adhesion of bone chips on the wheel surface promotes heat generation. To prevent adhesion, a surface-treated wheel was proposed, and it reduced the temperature elevation. However, we found that the proposed wheel cannot stably suppress the temperature elevation because the wheel effect depends on the coolant supply rate. In this study, a bone grinding method that stably suppresses temperature elevation was investigated. Based on the obtained findings, a cooling method using cold air was developed, and the temperature elevation was stably suppressed under a cold air supply.