Thermal model of temperature rise associated with tip discharge to improve electrocautery performance

Abstract

Electrocautery is a procedure that uses Joule heating from electrical discharges to stop bleeding and make incisions. However, coagulated blood adhesion and surgical smoke generation occurring at the electrode tip which either causes drop in electrocautery performance or health hazards to surgeons are considered to be problems. To have a better understanding of these problems, this study conducted simulations that clarified the electrical, heat transfer and blood flow characteristics of electrocautery discharges in blood using Finite Element Analysis（FEA）by COMSOL Multiphysics 6.0. Mechanisms of coagulated blood adherence and surgical smoke generation were discussed based on these simulations.