page_title: Cauterization
section_title: Electrocautery
hierarchical_section_title: Cauterization / Electrocautery
caption_attribution_description: English: Electrocauter
context_page_description: Cauterization is a medical practice or technique of burning a part of a body to remove or close off a part of it. It destroys some tissue in an attempt to mitigate bleeding and damage, remove an undesired growth, or minimize other potential medical harm, such as infections when antibiotics are unavailable.
  The practice was once widespread for treatment of wounds. Its utility before the advent of antibiotics was said to be effective at more than one level:
  To prevent exsanguination
  To close amputations
  Cautery was historically believed to prevent infection, but current research shows that cautery actually increases the risk for infection by causing more tissue damage and providing a more hospitable environment for bacterial growth. Actual cautery refers to the metal device, generally heated to a dull red glow, that a physician applies to produce blisters, to stop bleeding of a blood vessel, and for other similar purposes.
  The main forms of cauterization used today in the first world are electrocautery and chemical cautery—both are, for example, prevalent in the removal of unsightly warts and stopping nosebleeds.
context_section_description: Electrocauterization is the process of destroying tissue (or cutting through soft tissue) using heat conduction from a metal probe heated by electric current. The procedure stops bleeding from small vessels (larger vessels being ligated). Electrocautery applies high frequency alternating current by a unipolar or bipolar method. It can be a continuous waveform to cut tissue, or intermittent to coagulate tissue.
  The electrically produced heat in this process inherently can do numerous things to the tissue, depending on the waveform and power level, including cauterize, coagulate, cut, and dry (desiccate). Thus electrocautery, electrocoagulation, electrodesiccation, and electrocurettage are closely related and can co-occur in the same procedure when desired. Electrodesiccation and curettage is a common procedure.
caption: Electrocauter
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