Most patients think of electrosurgery and electrosurgery equipment as
something ultra new and cutting edge. Today’s electrosurgery equipment
is compact and computerized but electrosurgery actually began in 1926
and was first used in a successful operation that removed an aberrant
growth from a patient’s head. William Bovie developed the first
electrosurgery equipment sold commercially at Harvard.
Electrosurgery uses electric current to cut and seal incisions in any
part of the body. The advantage of electrosurgery is a minimal loss of
blood and other body fluids, faster operating times, smaller incisions,
less scarring, and much faster healing times.
The equipment works by taking advantage of the current carrying capacity
of body fluids. Just like salt water will conduct a current all body
fluids have ions (anions and cations) that are capable of carrying a
current.
Electrosurgery has progressed with time, computerization, and the rapid
development of medical knowledge to a state of art that is truly
phenomenal and lifesaving. Procedures that were once a dream are now a
reality thanks to the advances in electrosurgical techniques.
In electrosurgery, a small variable capacity electric generator is
needed. Probes of varying sizes that can be inserted into large and
small body orifices are needed to carry the current to the affected
area. Sterile tubes that conduct the probe to the area to be operated on
are essential. Controls that guide the probes and allow a surgeon to
control the amount of current delivered are basic in electrosurgery.
Electrosurgery is very versatile. The technique allows a trained surgeon
to cut, coagulate, desiccate, and fulgurate a specific area by
controlling the amount of current used and the distance the electrode
probe is from the area being operated on.
Two of the major players in the development and marketing of
electrosurgery devices and accessories are Bovie electrosurgery
equipment and Conmed electrosurgery. Both companies have their own
developments that boast to be the most cutting edge technology.
Bovie electrosurgery equipment is the result of William Bovie’s first
leap into electrosurgery. Bovie electrosurgery equipment claims, with
some right, to be the most recognized name in electrosurgery. One of
this company’s more recent and innovative devices is a small hand held
control that allows the surgeon to control both the amount of current
and the movement of the cutting probe with a single hand, much like one
controls a computer mouse. This device allows for much more accuracy and
control for the surgeon.
Conmed electrosurgery claims to be the number one choice of surgeons for
electrosurgery for the last seventy years. One of Conmed
electrosurgery’s newer innovations is a low cost high frequency
electrogenerator. This device makes electrosurgery practical in
countries where hospitals have very low budgets. The generator is also
portable enough that it can be taken into the bus almost anywhere and
used with a generator.
Electrosurgery has developed to the extent that a trained surgeon in New
York can operate on a patient in Nepal or anywhere else in the world
provided the proper equipment is available and an Internet visual
connection allows the surgeon to see the area he is operating on.
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