Noncontact electrosurgical grounding--a useful and safe tool in the initial surgical management of thermal injuries.

Abstract

Electrosurgical instruments - one of the useful and most-used instruments within the surgeon's armamentarium - are potentially dangerous by causing unanticipated direct burns; fire occurring as a result of electrosurgical instruments and electromagnetic interference with a pacemaker, defibrillator, or cardiac monitoring device. The Mega 2000 Patient Return Electrode System produced by Megadyne Medical Products is a noncontact electrode designed to provide adequate electrical return to facilitate function of electrocautery devices. We used this noncontact device in 67 patients (28 women, 39 men) with large burns during their stay in our burn unit and in 11 of these patients (4 women, 7 men) for escharotomies during admission in our burn care. The device functioned well in all cases, no additional cutaneous burns on the patients' body were noticed. This paper is a review of our experience with this noncontact electrosurgical grounding in burn surgery highlighting its advantages comparing with the conventional electrosurgical instruments.