Study on Thermal Characteristics of Ionized Gas Coagulation Equipment

Abstract

Low energy ionized gas coagulation equipment (LE-IGCE) using low temperature nonthermal atmospheric pressure plasmas has been attracting special attention with the popularization of minimally invasive surgery. In this work, the thermal characteristics of a commercial high energy ionized gas coagulation equipment (HE-IGCE) and a specially designed LE-IGCE have been studied using an infrared camera and optical emission spectroscopy during their treatments. The four substrates used for the treatments were pork meats, copper (Cu) plates, wet tissues, and glass plates. In the HE-IGCE treatment, the surface temperature of the pork meat rose to 350°C, and the rotational temperatures of nitrogen molecules in plasmas were 450 to 1630 K, depending on which substrate was used during HE-IGCE treatments. In the LE-IGCE treatment, the surface temperature of pork meats was lower than 40°C, and the rotational temperatures of nitrogen molecules were lower than 350 K. The results show that the LE-IGCE can maintain the temperature of biological tissue below the threshold that would cause irreversible tissue damage.

Study of the Power Distribution of Each Impedance in the Electrical Circuit of Ionized Gas Coagulation Equipment

“…Note here that both the plasma power and the R M power are very small, but the power and voltage (4 × 10 3 Ω × 1 A = 4 kV) of the equivalent resistance for the human body are very large. The surface temperature of the material during the operation when using the HE-IGCE increases because of ohmic heating, as demonstrated by Kim et al 25…”

Reviews of low-temperature atmospheric pressure plasma for studying hemostasis and international standardization

“…LTP has been proposed for ideal hemostasis treatment because it immediately coagulates blood at the plasma's point of contact without leading to cauterization damage of tissue. [11][12][13][14][15][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]28,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] LTP treatment induces blood coagulation by solidifying the major blood components, such as erythrocytes, albumin, and immunoglobulins while not requiring activation of the platelets or coagulation proteins. [13][14][15][34][35][36][37] Treatment using plasma hemostasis equipment allows for a stable discharge with flow-controlled current, thereby maintaining the temperature of the treated area at 48 °C or lower.…”

“…Many types of LTP devices have been developed, and experiments on bleeding were conducted using them. [11][12][13][14][15][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]28,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] By using a dielectric barrier discharge of a parallel flat-plate type, a blood coagulation procedure was demonstrated at Drexel University. 11,12) as one of the first LTP applications.…”

“…Possibly by charge effects? DBD plasma jet [13][14][15]18,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]45) Helium, argon 2 l min −1 ~60 kHz, 6-9 kV p-p , 0.15-0.9 mA (rms), 0.3-1.5 W Serum protein aggregation, platelet and fibrinogen aggregations, hemolytic coagulation of red blood cells…”

“…29) It already has been demonstrated that the LTP can provide an ideal hemostasis treatment for minimally invasive surgery. [11][12][13][14][15][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]28,[30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] There have been several LTP studies on hemostasis. However, the detailed mechanism of hemostasis has not yet been explicated clearly.…”