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Electrosurgery is the application of a high-frequency electric current to tissue as a means to cut, coagulate or desiccate. Its bigest benefit is the ability to make precise cuts with limited blood loss. Electrosurgery is commonly used in dermatological, gynecological, cardiac, plastic, ocular, spine, ENT, orthopedic, urological, neuro- and general surgical procedures.
Electrosurgery is performed using an Electrosurgical Generator (also referred to as Power Supply or Waveform Generator) and a hand piece including one or several electrodes, sometimes referred to as an blade or needle. The apparatus that generate the current is often referred to informally by surgeons as a "Bovie," after the inventor.
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There are several commonly used electrode configurations or circuit topologies:
In bipolar configuration the voltage is applied to the patient using a pair of electrodes. For example, special forceps, with one tine connected to one pole of the AC generator and the other tine connected to the other pole of the generator. When a piece of tissue is held by the forceps, a high frequency electric current flows from one to the other forceps tine, heating the intervening tissue.
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In monopolar configuration the patient lies on top of the return electrode, a relatively large metal plate or a flexible metalized plastic pad which is connected to the return electrode of the AC source. The surgeon uses a pointed probe to make contact with the tissue. The electric current flows from the probe tip, through the body to the return electrode, and then back to the electrosurgical generator. Since electric current spreads from the pointed electrode as it enters the body the current density is rapidly (quadratically) decreasing with distance from the electrode.
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