Handbook of Electrosurgery in Endoscopy Book

Electrosurgery has been one of the principle procedures in operative endoscopy for some twenty years. However, partly due to fears about complications, particulary burns, and partly through the emergence of laser surgery, these techniques have been going through a phase of unpopularity. The main causes of complications have been removed, through the development of new generators, with inbuilt microprocessors and excellent safety features. Monopolar electrosurgery can provide precise cutting, with little tissue damage, rivalling the most precise laser, and its coagulation capabilities are far superior to most modern lasers. This handbook necessarily combines principles and practice because safe clinical applications can only be properly employed and complications avoided if their theorectical basis is properly understood. This applies both to the underlying theorectical physics and current generators. Section II explains the salient features of monopolar and bipolar surgery, principles of generator circuitry and ESG effects. The dispersive electrode gets its own section because about 70% of complications at monopolar surgery are caused by it. Operative endoscopy is evolving rapidly, and Section IV gives a full account of laparoscopy and endoscopic applications of electrosurgery. The best way of avoiding complications is to understand how, when and why they may occur, and the same applies to interference with or from other equipment in an increasingly electronic theatre setting. The authors assert that errors can usually be traced to failure of the surgeon or operating room staff to understand the basic principles of electrosurgery and so the final section highlights recommendations for the whole team which are the keynotes of safetyRead More