Strumento chirurgico, in particolare per interventi in laparoscopia

In U.S.A. more than 25% of major operation are performed by mean of laparoscopy. Accidental burns are infrequent but very dangerous complications during laparoscopic surgery. They may lead to cutaneous burns, organs’ damage, bowel perforation far from the main surgical site, peritonitis, which may require subsequent surgery included stomas. The incidence of laparoscopic accidental burns is between 2,3 and 4 cases every 1000 major operation. Almost 18% of general surgeons and 33.33% of gynecologists have a direct or indirect experience of burn injuries (2). The aim of our work is to investigate the reason of accidental burns occurrence and develop a reliable solution which is cost effective on a large scale. The main mechanism of laparoscopic burns could be epitomized in three phenomenon. Direct contact that occurs when energy is transferred through a physical contact between two conductors. This effect is generally attributed to human errors. Lack of insulation due to a defect of the instrument as electric leakage on sheath’ surface, and capacitive coupling. Capacitance is a stored electrical charge that occurs between two conductors separated by insulation (13). Our hypothesis is that the presence of biological fluid on the surface of the laparoscopic instrument into the abdominal cavity works as a conductor for electric conduction on the sheath. We developed a cover which separate the ions present into an electrolyte solution and works as an insulator for electric conduction when applied on the sheath of the instruments.