Lighted mirror for microneurosurgery.

We describe a newly developed, lighted mirror that provides enough luminous intensity to obtain a clear image in deep operative fields under high magnification. Through the initial neurosurgical procedures in which it was tested, the mirror proved particularly useful for inspecting the ventral aspect of the fifth nerve in a microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia, and for observing the fundus of the internal auditory meatus after removal of an acoustic neuroma to ensure no residual tumor.