Adorns : a woman burned by a cautery knife

starman963/epictura

Published the 13.10.2017 at 17: 31

A A

Keywords :

fact diversNormandieeffets adverse

The accident is rare, but spectacular. Has Flers (Orne), a woman was seriously burned. Birth by emergency caesarean section, the patient caught fire when the team carried out an incision with a scalpel, electric, reports Ouest France.

According to the information of our colleagues, the burning extends over 15 % of the body of the unlucky. The lesions are at the 3rd degree. His days are not in danger, but she was transferred to the service of the burn victims unit of the CHU of Nantes (Loire-Atlantique).

An internal investigation has been launched by the hospital, in order to shed light on the errors that could be committed. But for the justice, the place of the facts is accurate. “The patient would have caught fire. This would be linked to the use of an electrocautery device “, explains the prosecutor of the Republic, Hugues de World.

A dilapidated equipment

The announcement may seem surprising, in the eyes of the uninitiated. But for surgeons, the risk is well known. “The cases are rare, but can occur,” says Dr. Balla Diop, contacted by Why Doctor. Surgeon to the military hospital Ouakam in Dakar (Senegal), he is the author of a study published in Annals of Burns and Fire Disasters. In the United States, 20 to 100 cases would be identified per year. In France, the MACSF has declared that a case for the year 2015.

Dr. Diop readily acknowledges, some contexts encourage the burns associated with the cautery knife. “I operate in a country where the means are insufficient,” he says. Our surgical activity is often carried out with equipment that is dated or poorly maintained. “However, the good operating condition of the devices is essential to prevent incidents.

In France, the equipment is more modern and includes security measures. Moreover, 98 % of the operating theatres are equipped with these knives. “An alarm is triggered if the contact is not good, explains Why Doctor professor Jean-Marc Canard, gastroenterologist in Paris. The device can only be used if everything is well placed. “

Multiple precautions

But even secure, the knife operates in the electric current. Connected to the mains, it modulates its power through a transformer. The intensity of the current produces heat, which is coagulate the blood or makes an incision. An efficient method but requires caution.

The products used for the disinfection of the skin, for example, are not all suited to this knife. “Burns with the plate can occur when alcohol has been used as a disinfectant and the skin is not dry “, is full of Jean-Marc Duck. An element that does not disregard the High Authority of Health (HAS), which refers to the risk in its evaluations. The ether is also known to promote heartburn.

Precautions do not stop there. The material metallic is very present in the operating room, to the table of intervention. “The operation tables are generally well isolated, but if a member of the patient comes into contact with the iron of the table or the arm of the infusion to a risk of a burn exists,” recalls the Pr Duck. Similarly, the nylon of some under-clothing is to be avoided in the presence of such a device.