A Study on Performance and Safety Tests of Electrosurgical Equipment

INTRODUCTION: Modern medicine employs a wide variety of instruments with different physiological effects and measurements. Periodic verifications are routinely used in legal metrology for industrial measuring instruments. The correct operation of electrosurgical generators is essential to ensure patient’s safety and management of the risks associated with the use of high and low frequency electrical currents on human body. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The metrological reliability of 20 electrosurgical equipment in six hospitals (3 private and 3 public) was evaluated in one of the provinces of Iran according to international and national standards. RESULTS: The achieved results show that HF leakage current of ground-referenced generators are more than isolated generators and the power analysis of only eight units delivered acceptable output values and the precision in the output power measurements was low. CONCLUSION: Results indicate a need for new and severe regulations on periodic performance verifications and medical equipment quality control program especially in high risk instruments. It is also necessary to provide training courses for operating staff in the field of meterology in medicine to be acquianted with critical parameters to get accuracy results with operation room equipment.