La Jolla, Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Stanford, Calif. Background: The authors investigated thermal injury depth, inflammation, and scarring in human abdominal skin by comparing the histology of incisions made with a standard “cold” scalpel blade, conventional electrosurgery, and the PEAK PlasmaBlade, a novel, low-thermal-injury electrosurgical instrument. Methods: Approximately 6 and 3 weeks...

We investigated the influence of pathology data to improve patient outcomes in the treatment of high-grade cervical neoplasia in a joint pathology and gynecology collaboration. Two of us (B.S.D. and M.D.) reviewed all cytology, colposcopy and surgical pathology results, patient history, and pregnancy outcomes from all patients with loop electrosurgical excision procedure specimens for a 33-mont...

BACKGROUND The authors investigated thermal injury depth, inflammation, and scarring in human abdominal skin by comparing the histology of incisions made with a standard "cold" scalpel blade, conventional electrosurgery, and the PEAK PlasmaBlade, a novel, low-thermal-injury electrosurgical instrument. METHODS Approximately 6 and 3 weeks before abdominoplasty, full-thickness incisions were cre...

A patient had a fire in his chest cavity during dissection of the left internal mammary artery before coronary artery bypass graft. The electrosurgical unit indirectly ignited gauze, resulting in a fire. It was determined that oxygen was being entrained into the surgical field through open pulmonary blebs. This case identifies the need for continued fire training and prevention strategies, pers...

The ASGE Technology Committee provides reviews of existing, new, or emerging endoscopic technologies that have an impact on the practice of GI endoscopy. Evidence-based methodology is used, performing a MEDLINE literature search to identify pertinent clinical studies on the topic and a MAUDE (U.S. Food and Drug Administration Center for Devices and Radiological Health) database search to identi...

OBJECTIVE To compare the results of cold knife conization (CKC) and loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia to determine if excisional method has effects on pathologic interpretation. METHODS Retrospective review of the perioperative medical records of patients who had a CKC and electrosurgical loop excision of cervix. Patients selected had either...

We describe a patient who sustained facial burns during a tracheotomy. The electrosurgical unit indirectly started the fire during monitored anesthesia care when a high inspired oxygen concentration was being delivered to the patient by simple face mask. This case points out the need for prevention strategies, intraoperative vigilance, and quick intervention to prevent further patient injury an...