Outpatient Surgery Magazine

OR Excellence Awards 2015 - September 2015 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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Dennis. She notes neutral, bipolar plas- ma models don't spark like other elec- trosurgical devices, making them less likely to cause an OR fire. Plus, these designs also use a low-flow gas rate of 0.4 liters per minute, which reduces the risk of embolism and over-pressurization in laparoscopic patients. Your staff also ben- efits from plasma since these devices generate much less smoke compared to traditional electrosurgery — though Ms. Dennis adds you still must use an evacuator. "It does generate smoke, but it's less," she says. "It's more equivalent to a harmonic or ultrasonic scalpel." Despite all of the advantages, there is one big reason plasma isn't in more ORs — benefit versus cost. For example, in a study looking at pediatric patients undergoing an adenotonsillectomy, researchers found that using traditional monopolar cautery resulted in similar out- comes to a plasma scalpel. However, the overall average cost of using monopolar cautery was around $30 while the plasma scalpel's costs 1 4 2 O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 5 z PLASMA VS. ELECTROSURGERY Plasma devices can improve wound healing and minimize scarring, compared to traditional electrosurgery options.

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