Plasma characteristics of repetitively-pulsed electrical discharges in saline solutions used for surgical procedures

Author

Woloszko, Jean ; Stalder, Kenneth R. ; Brown, Ian G.

Author_Institution

ArthoCare Corp., Sunnyvale, CA, USA

Volume

30

Issue

3

fYear

2002

fDate

6/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1376

Lastpage

1383

Abstract

Characteristics of plasmas formed by repetitively-pulsed electrical discharges in sodium chloride and barium chloride saline solutions are reported. Spectroscopic observations in conjunction with an analysis of the voltage and current behavior of the discharge lead to a model in which the liquid is vaporized and ionized to form a plasma containing excited water fragments H* and OH* as well as ions and neutrals from the salt. For typical conditions under which plasma is formed, the plasma density is estimated to be of order 10¹² cm^-3 and the electron temperature about 4 eV.

Keywords

discharges (electric); plasma applications; solutions; surgery; BaCl₂; H; NaCl; OH; barium chloride; current behavior; dissociative excitation; electrical breakdown; electron temperature; electrosurgery; excited water fragments; liquid ionisation; liquid vaporisation; liquid vaporization; plasma characteristics; plasma density; plasma discharges; plasma formation; repetitively pulsed electrical discharges; saline solutions; sodium chloride; spectroscopic observations; surgical procedures; surgical tools; voltage behavior; Atomic measurements; Barium; Electrodes; Plasma density; Plasma devices; Plasma properties; Plasma sources; Plasma temperature; Plasma waves; Surgery;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TPS.2002.801612

Filename

1158301