The electrocautery unit uses high-frequency electrical energy to cut tissue or coagulate bleeding. The preferential conduction of electrical energy by blood vessels facilitates coagulation. It is crucial to remove pooled blood and irrigation fluids from the operative field that may act as an insulator or disperse the cautery's energy, thereby diminishing its effectiveness.
Electrocautery may be used in two different ways. In the bipolar mode, a tweezers-tip instrument is used to control bleeding vessels when the two tips complete the electrical circuit at the point of application . The advantage of bipolar cautery is its precise application of energy to small and delicate areas. This is particularly efficacious for microvascular surgery, microneurosurgery, and plastic surgery procedures. Most bipolar units are operated by the surgeon through a foot-controlled switch.
In the monopolar mode, a grounding pad is attached to the patient from the electrocautery unit, and an electrosurgical “pencil” is used to complete a circuit through the patient when it touches bleeding tissues. This “pencil” has a rocker switch or two buttons on its shaft that activate either a continuous application of electrical energy for cutting through tissue, or pulses that can coagulate specific sources of bleeding. Most units can produce a blend of cut and coagulation waveforms to combine the desired features of each.
The cut mode easily cleaves most tissue and does not penetrate very deeply into the surrounding tissue. It is not effective for coagulating bleeding.
In the coagulation mode, the metal blade or needle tip can be directly applied to the tissue or to an intermediary instrument, such as a clamp or forceps, that has been placed onto a bleeding vessel. It can also be used to coagulate a small blood vessel along its visible length before the vessel is transected. The coagulation mode penetrates deeply into the surrounding tissues and can cause thermal damage to unseen arteries, nerves, and other delicate tissues surrounding the cautery tip and vessel surface.
Jinhua Huacheng Medical Appliance Co.,Ltd.
Manufactuer of disposable medical products: Electrosurgical pencil,grounding plate,skin stapler and ECG electrode
