Cauterization is a medical term describing the burning of the body to remove or close a part of it. The main forms of cauterization used today are electrocautery and chemical cautery. Cautery can also mean the branding of a human, either recreational or forced. Accidental burns can be considered cauterization as well. This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... To Brand a person means to burn a symbol into a living persons skin using a hot or cold iron, with the intention that the resulting scar makes the symbol permanent. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

Cauterization in the Past

Hot cauters were applied to tissues or arteries to stop them from bleeding.

The verb to cauterize; known in English since 1541; from Medieval French cauteriser; from Late Latin cauterizare "to burn or brand with a hot iron"; itself from Greek kauteriazein; from kauter "burning or branding iron"; from kaiein "to burn." Cauterization was used to stop heavy bleeding, especially during amputations. The procedure was simple: a piece of metal was heated over fire and applied to the wound. This would cause tissues and blood to heat rapidly to extreme temperatures in turn causing coagulation of the blood thus controlling the bleeding. The downside was extensive tissue damage. Later special medical instruments called cauters were used to cauterize arteries. Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis), and later Ambroise Paré, introduced the technique of ligature of the arteries in lieu of cauterization. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Vulgar Latin (in Latin, sermo vulgaris) is a blanket term covering the vernacular dialects of the Latin language spoken mostly in the western provinces of the Roman Empire until those dialects, diverging still further, evolved into the early Romance languages — a distinction usually assigned to about the ninth century. ... Partial hand amputation For the song Amputations by Death Cab for Cutie, see You Can Play These Songs with Chords Amputation is the removal of a body extremity by trauma (also referred to as avulsion) or surgery. ... Section of an artery For other uses, see Artery (disambiguation). ... Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbas Al-Zahrawi (936 - 1013), (Arabic: أبو القاسم بن خلف بن العباس الزهراوي) also known in the West as Abulcasis, was an Andalusian-Arab physician, and scientist. ... Ambroise Paré. Ambroise Paré (1510 – December 20, 1590) was a French surgeon, the official royal surgeon for kings Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III, is considered by some as one of the Fathers of Surgery. ... In medicine, a ligature is a device, similar to a tourniquet, usually of thread or string, tied around a limb, blood vessel or similar to restrict blood flow. ...

Electrocautery

Electrocauterization (also called electric surgery or electrosurgery) is the process of destroying tissue with electricity and is a widely used technique in modern surgery. The procedure is frequently used to stop bleeding of small vessels (larger vessels being ligated) or for cutting through soft tissue i.e. abdominal fat in a laparotomy or breast tissue in a mastectomy. Electrosurgery is the application of a high-frequency electric current to human (or other animal) tissue as a means to remove lesions, staunch bleeding, or cut tissue. ... In medicine, a ligature is a device, similar to a tourniquet, usually of thread or string, tied around a limb, blood vessel or similar to restrict blood flow. ... A laparotomy is a surgical maneuver involving an incision through the abdominal wall to gain access into the abdominal cavity. ... In medicine, mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. ...

Electrosurgical Generator (ESG)

The ESG is the power force behind an electrosurgical system providing the frequency, the voltage, and may modify the electrical wave to allow for cutting versus coagulation. International safety symbol Caution, risk of electric shock (ISO 3864), colloquially known as high voltage symbol. ...

Frequency

To prevent Electric shock, an alternating frequency that is higher than power from standard wall outlets is used. Normal "house-current" AC runs at 50-60 Hz and is quite lethal, since at every alteration nerves and muscles get stimulated, causing violent cramps 50-60 times a second. However, nerve and muscle stimulation cease at 100,000 Hz due to alterations being too fast for the cells to pick up. Electrosurgery can be performed safely at “radio” frequencies above 100 kHz. Sign warning of possible electric shock hazard An electric shock can occur upon contact of a human or animal body with any source of voltage high enough to cause sufficient current flow through the muscles or nerves. ... Look up AC, ac in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Hz or hz may mean: Herero language (ISO 639 alpha-2, hz) Hertz, unit of frequency This is a disambiguation page — a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Electrosurgery is the application of a high-frequency electric current to human (or other animal) tissue as a means to remove lesions, staunch bleeding, or cut tissue. ...

Cutting vs. Coagulation

Different cauterizing effects can be achieved by changing the voltage of the current as well as the pattern of electric pulses. When lower voltage is used with a continuous AC current, heat is produced very fast and tissue is completely vaporized at the tip of the probe. The effect is dubbed "cutting". When a higher voltage current is used in a pulsed manner, heat is produced more slowly, tissue damage is more widespread (a few mm from the probe) and blood coagulates, and in many electrosurgery instruments this is called "coagulation" mode). This is also used for ablation. Usually a "blend" setting is available as well. International safety symbol Caution, risk of electric shock (ISO 3864), colloquially known as high voltage symbol. ... For other uses, see Heat (disambiguation) In physics, heat, symbolized by Q, is energy transferred from one body or system to another as a result of a difference in temperature. ... Evaporation is the process whereby atoms or molecules in a liquid state (or solid state if the substance sublimes) gain sufficient energy to enter the gaseous state. ... A millimetre (American spelling: millimeter, symbol mm) is an SI unit of length that is equal to one thousandth of a metre. ... Coagulation is a complex process by which blood forms solid clots. ... Ablation is defined as the removal of material from the surface of an object by vaporization, chipping, or other erosive processes. ...

Ultrasonic ablation systems are also available. Ultrasound is a form of cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing, this limit being approximately 20 kilohertz (20,000 hertz). ...

Monopolar vs Bipolar

Two kinds of electrocautery are used, monopolar and bipolar (aka. monothermy and diathermy, respectively). Both involve high frequency alternating current and a pair of electrodes, one called active and the other returning. The difference lies in the placement of these electrodes: City lights viewed in a motion blurred exposure. ... Alternative meanings: There is also an Electric-type Pokémon named Electrode. ...

• Monopolar: Current is passed from the probe (active electrode) where cauterization occurs and the patient's body serves as a ground. A grounding pad (returning electrode) is placed on the person's body, usually the thigh, and it carries the current back to the machine. Careful application of the patient return electrode is necessary as if the electrode is not correctly attached extensive burns can occur undetected.

• Bipolar: The active and receiving electrodes are both placed at the site of cauterization. The probe is usually in the shape of a forceps, each tine forming one electrode, and only the tissue grasped by them is cauterized.

Probes

The cautery probes are shaped in a variety of ways depending on their purpose. A common monopolar probe is penshaped but ending in a small slender spatula, roughly 5 mm X 30 mm. The shape is reminiscent of a scalpel. This can serve both as a coagulator and as an electric scalpel. The typical bipolar probe resembles a pair of tweezers, which grab a hold of a small piece of tissue and cauterize it. Variants of these probes are used both in open surgery and in modern minimally invasive surgery. The surgeon operates the probe either by pushing a button on the shaft of probe itself or by using a footpedal. A scalpel is a very sharp knife used for surgery, anatomical dissection, and various arts and crafts. ... open surgery ... A minimally invasive medical procedure is defined as one that is carried out by entering the body through the skin or through a body cavity or anatomical opening, but with the smallest damage possible to these structures. ...

Alternate Burnsites

When using monopolar electrocautery it is important that the grounding pad be the only way by which the current passes through the body. Electricity always follows the path of least resistance, and if that is via some ground-connected piece of metal touching the patient by chance, a burn might result there as well as at the tip of the cautery probe. Thus great care must be taken that the patient be insulated from the ground and that the large grounding pad be thoroughly attached to the patient. Further defects in insulation of the monopolar instrument and capacitive coupling can lead to trauma to non-target tissue.

Chemical cautery

Many chemical reactions can destroy tissue and some are used routinely in medicine, most commonly for the removal of small skin lesions (i.e. warts or necrotized tissue) or hemostasis. Some cauterizing agents are: Wart is also the name of a Nintendo character, see Wart (Nintendo character). ... Hemostasis refers to a process whereby bleeding is halted in most animals with a closed circulatory system. ...

• Silver nitrate: Active ingredient of the lunar caustic, a stick that traditionally looks like a large match-stick. It is dipped into water and pressed onto the lesion to be cauterized for a few moments.

• Trichloroacetic acid

• Cantharidin: An extract of the blister beetle that causes epidermal necrosis and blistering; used to treat warts.

R-phrases , S-phrases , , , , Flash point non-flammable Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... In organic chemistry, the chloroethanoic acids (trivial name chloroacetic acids) are three related chlorocarbon carboxylic acids: chloroethanoic acid (chloroacetic acid), CH2ClCOOH dichloroethanoic acid (dichloroacetic acid), CHCl2COOH trichloroethanoic acid (trichloroacetic acid), CCl3COOH As the number of chlorine atoms increases, the electronegativity of that end of the molecule increases, and the molecule... Cantharidin is a poisonous chemical compound secreted by many species of blister beetle, and most notably by the Spanish fly, Lytta vesicatoria. ...

Nasal Cauterization

If a person has been having frequent nose bleeds, it is most likely caused by an exposed blood vessel in their nose. Even if the nose is not bleeding at the time, it is cauterized to prevent future bleeding. The different methods of cauterization include burning the affected area with acid, hot metal, lasers, or silver nitrate. People often find such a procedure painful. Sometimes liquid nitrogen is used as a less painful alternative, though it is less effective. In the few countries that permit the use of cocaine for medicinal purposes, it is occasionally used topically to make this procedure less uncomfortable, cocaine being the only local anesthetic which also produces vasoconstriction, making it ideal for controlling nosebleeds. Nosebleed as a result of fracture through a rugby impact. ... R-phrases , S-phrases , , , , Flash point non-flammable Supplementary data page Structure and properties n, εr, etc. ... General Name, Symbol, Number nitrogen, N, 7 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 15, 2, p Appearance colorless gas Standard atomic weight 14. ... Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ... Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ... The blood vessels are part of the circulatory system and function to transport blood throughout the body. ...

==See also==]

• Diathermy

In the natural sciences, the term diathermy means electrically-induced heat and is commonly used for muscle relaxation. ...

External links

• Valleylab division of Tyco Healthcare, explaining the basics of electrosurgery