Mega Soft Patient Return Electrode for use during monopolar electrosurgery

NICE has assessed the Mega Soft Patient Return Electrode to help the NHS decide whether to use this product.

Electrosurgery (also called diathermy) is surgery that uses an electrical current to cut. There are different kinds of electrosurgery. Mega Soft Patient Return Electrode is used in a kind called monopolar electrosurgery, in which the person who is having the operation forms part of the electrical circuit. The current is passed between two electrodes, one of which is the tool the surgeon uses to cut and one of which is usually attached to the person’s skin. Instead of being attached to a person’s skin, the Mega Soft Patient Return Electrode incorporates this electrode into a pressure-relieving pad that the person lies on. NICE has said that the Mega Soft Patient Return Electrode may have advantages for certain people, for example those who would need to shave before the electrode was attached, and those with fragile or damaged skin. This includes people with burns, people with skin conditions, children and older people.

Hospital teams may want to use the Mega Soft Patient Return Electrode because it may reduce the overall risk of burns  during monopolar electrosurgery if good standards of operating theatre practice are also followed, may be quicker and easier to use than standard equipment, and will cost about the same.

ISBN: 978-1-4731-1222-3