Going under the knife(credit:
emdot)
As per an article by Josh Romero, a new clicnical trial aims to determine whether using an ultrasonic scalpel, a blade that makes tiny vibrations thousands of times a second, could reduce the need for wound drainage following lower-body lifts.
The recent increase in weight-loss surgeries has created a secondary demand for procedures like lower-body lifts, and an emerging market for companies that make surgical devices.
The clinical trial will compare an ultrasonic scalpel with the traditional technique, called electrocautery, in which surgeons send a current of electricity through the tissues being cut. The tissues heat up because of their resistance to the current, and the heat collapses and seals blood vessels to prevent bleeding. Ultrasonic scalpels produce heat through friction rather than an electric current—the scalpel relies on piezoelectric stacks that convert electricity into mechanical energy, causing the tip to oscillate between 55 and 90 micrometers side to side at a rate of 55 500 times per second.
The primary benefit of ultrasonic scalpels is that they cause thermal damage to only 1 to 2 millimeters of adjacent tissue, says IEEE member Tim Dietz, principal engineer at Ethicon Endo-Surgery (a division of Johnson & Johnson). The company, which manufactures an ultrasonic device called the Harmonic Scalpel, is funding the clinical trial.
Surgeons have used ultrasonic scalpels like the Harmonic for a variety of procedures since 1990, but cosmetic surgeons have been slow to adopt them. Dr. Al Aly, the principal investigator of the clinical trial, says that the study aims to determine if ultrasonic scalpels can reduce the formation of seromas, collections of clear fluid that are a common complication of many cosmetic surgeries. Doctors usually treat seromas by draining the fluid with needles.
Other small pilot studies of similar procedures, such as mastectomies for breast cancer, have indicated that ultrasonic scalpels can reduce seroma formation, but the benefits haven′t been overwhelming, especially considering that seromas are neither painful nor dangerous. The repeated visits to the office that are required to treat seromas cost both surgeons and patients time and money, but when it comes to the motivation of the new pilot study, Aly admits that “it′s a matter of technology driving use rather than the other way around.”
Source: Alternative Knife for Plastic Surgery After Weight Loss
By Josh Romero