A prospective study comparing diathermy and steel scalpel in abdominal incisions

Abstract

Background: Diathermy is increasingly used for underlying tissue dissection, cutting, and hemostasis although fears of excessive scarring and poor wound healing have curtailed its widespread use for skin incision. Only few surgeons employ diathermy in making a skin incision with fear of producing deep burns and resultant scarring. Aims and Objectives: This prospective study was done to compare the outcome of diathermy incisions versus steel scalpel incisions in general surgery with regard to incision time, early postoperative pain, postoperative wound infection rate, and scar assessment. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at Department of General Surgery. A total of 76 patients who underwent steel scalpel incision (group A: 38 patients) or diathermy incision (group B: 38 patients) were analyzed. Variables analyzed were incision time, early postoperative pain, post operative wound infection rate, and scar assessment. All patients aged from 15 years to 60 years who underwent elective surgery (appendectomy and cholecystectomy) were included in the study. The exclusion criteria were (1) emergency surgery, (2) surgically scarred tissues, (3) immune compromised patients, (4) pregnant patients, (5) patients with pacemaker device, (6) lost to follow up. Standard antiseptic protocol was followed for both the groups. Results: The results showed significantly less incision time as well as less pain scores associated with diathermy incisions over scalpel incisions. Incision time was significantly lower for patients in the diathermy group (P 0.05) was almost the same for both groups and was statistically insignificant. Conclusion: Diathermy skin incision in elective surgery has significant advantages over scalpel use as it results in less incision time, less early postoperative pain, and analgesia requirement.