Experimental Study on Burns Caused by Electric Knives under Surgical Gloves

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Electric charges from an electric knife (350W maximum output for pure incision ; 130W maximum output for pinpoint coagulation ; 75W maximum output for spray coagulation) were experimentally loaded on various kinds of surgical gloves to identify the cause of burns under surgical gloves and unpleasant electric shocks, which suddenly occur during operation.The voltage for coagulation increased only to 3,000V in the pinpoint mode, but easily reached about 6,000V int the spray mode. Rubber glove insulators were easily destroyed at about 50W (about 5,000V) in the spray mode.The present study revealed that insulator destuction easily occurred in surgical gloves during the ordinary use of an electric knife for spray coagulation. Thus such destruction was thought to be the primary factor for burns occurring under surgical gloves.It is necessary to prevent burns under gloves that epecial care is taken when the spray mode is applied, high frequency leakage should be prevented through insulating coating of forceps and tweezers, and every electric knife is used at frequency and electric power as low as possible.