Electrosurgery is one of the most modern and safe forms of surgery. In electrosurgery, an electric current is used in the operation of a patient.
While this may sound dangerous to those who are inexperienced or unfamiliar with the medical field, it is actually quite safe as long as the doctor and staff are trained properly. There are a variety of different terms associated with electrosurgery that may be useful to know if you are going to have to receive surgery soon.
One of the tools your surgeon is likely to use is a special kind of pencil that has a flow of radiofrequency electricity through it. This flow can be varied throughout the operation to fulfill various tasks.
This variation of the flow or change in duty cycle (that is the amount of on-time) will create either a cutting effect or coagulation effect. The coagulation modes creates hemostasis, or stops bleeding.
The density of the current can also be varied. This is accomplished by changing the type of electrosurgical electrode.
A needle has a high current density, while a blade electrode has a lower current density. At the same power setting, a high current density creates a greater effect.
The area of contact also impacts the effect of the electric pen. The smaller the area of contact, the more concentrated the current of flow will be.
Likewise, the larger the area of contact the more dispersed the current of flow will be. The generator has various settings that create differing waveforms.
A waveform that is constant will allow the blade to maximize its ability to cut effectively. However, this waveform will not cauterize the wound as well as the other settings.
A waveform that provides groups of current with periods of rest is referred to as the blend setting and coagulation setting. The blend setting provides some cutting effect with some hemostasis.
The third setting is referred to as the coagulation setting. The Coag setting provides little cutting effect but more hemostasis.
As you can see there are tradeoffs in the modes used by surgeons for cutting and coagulating tissue with the use of electrosurgery. When using Electrosurgery the cutting mode provides a constant flow of current which causes the fluid in the cells to boil and burst the cell walls to create the cutting effect.
The coag mode has rest periods in the flow of current. This allow the cells to heat and break the cell walls.
A coagulum forms due to the rest period which stops the bleeding of non-major vessels. There are two main types of circuits known as monopolar and bipolar.
The monopolar type of circuit is when the circuit leaves the generator, enters the patient through the electric pen, and leaves the patient after performing its job through an electrode that usually comes in the form of a pad laid under the patient. The pad is designed to be large so that is has a large contact area with the patient.
The large contact area spreads the electric current out over a large area so that it does not burn the patient like the pen is intended to. The current then travels from the pad to the generator to complete the electrosurgical circuit.
The bipolar method involves the current leaving the generator through one tine of a surgical tool into the patient. The current then returns to the generator through the other tine of the same surgical tool.
As the current leaves through the same method that it entered, the electrode pad is not needed for this kind of surgery. The word cauterization is often used in a similar manner as coagulation, these two terms are often confused.
The term cauterization was used earlier in this article to convey the idea of what was going on, but the term coagulation is in fact more correct. As these two terms are often confused, the terms electrocautery and electrosurgery are also often mixed up.
However, the methods used in both of these cases are very different. In electrocautery surgeon will use electricity to heat an instrument and apply it to a specific area.
Meanwhile, electrosurgery will use electricity to travel through the tissue at the electrosurgical pen and will create heat at the cellular level by the resistance to the flow of current created by the cells. How hot a specific tissue becomes depends on a variety of factors including the specific resistance ability of the tissue, the current density, the power of output, and the time of current application.
It is important that a surgeon and his or her staff becomes thoroughly familiar with how these various factors will impact the application of the current and the tissue in order to properly use this method. However, with the proper knowledge, this technology is a safe and effective surgical tool.
Author Resource:-
Tommy Greene has worked in surgical equipment sales for the past 15 years. He has great advice and information on Electrosurgery Equipment.
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