Unwanted RF Energy Coupling During Electrocautery: An In-Vitro Tonsillectomy Study

We present an in-vitro tonsillectomy study demonstrating that unwanted Radio-Frequency (RF) energy gets coupled into adjacent metal-based objects (e.g., mouth retractor) during electrocautery. In turn, this unwanted energy might cause adverse effects, such as dysgeusia. Our in-vitro set-up employed: 1) a ground-beef phantom that emulated the average properties of the human body, 2) a metal-based mouth retractor placed around an artificially-formed mouth cavity, 3) a 31kHz monopolar bovie firing at 30 W of power, and 4) a highly sensitive RF current monitor placed around the mouth retractor. Notably, currents as high as 181.48mA were shown to be unintentionally coupled to the retractor, which were ~ 40 times higher than the associated noise floor. As a first study of its kind, our results highlight the need for further explorations in future.