Methods and systems for analyzing surgical smoke using atomic absorption spectroscopy

Abstract

A neurosurgery system for resecting tissue after administration of a contrast agent to a patient, the system including an electrosurgical instrument for manipulating tissue which generates a fluid sample from the tissue during ablation, an aspiration channel configured to obtain the fluid sample, an analyzer for analyzing the fluid sample, an indicator configured to provide an indication of the presence of a rare earth metal, and a controller configured to instruct the indicator to provide the indication of the presence of the rare earth metal. The analyzer includes a collector coupled to the aspiration channel and configured to receive a portion of the fluid sample from the aspiration channel, a heater configured to atomize the portion of the fluid sample, and a detector configured to measure an absorption of a wavelength corresponding to a rare earth metal.