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THE BiPAD® STORY

WHY BiPAD®?

by Dr. Louis G. Cornacchia, III

Surgeons should never have to stare down at the floor to find the bipolar forceps when they try to control hemorrhage.

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BiPAD® originated from a long, arduous surgery in 2013.

 

A young patient presented with a grade I-II spondylolisthesis and morbid obesity. He had been an athlete in college but was sedentary now. His obesity was so severe that several surgeons had rejected him for surgery.

The surgery took more than the usual hours because of his size. I needed foot stands for this surgery because of the patient's girth, with the distance of skin to the spine being more than twelve inches.

 

The bipolar foot pedal repeatedly fell off the foot stand. Sam frequently crawled under the table to move it back onto the foot stand.

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To move things along, she even attempted to do this without gloves. Of course, I asked her to take the time to put on gloves.

 

However, I wonder how many OR infections could be traced back to the bipolar foot pedal - I imagine maybe half! It was a long and arduous case that went on into the evening.

The following morning, I awoke with the idea of mounting a hand switch on the forceps connector. I began demonstrating an early prototype to colleagues at work and professional meetings. Almost every time I presented the device to a surgeon, scrub tech, or nurse, I noted problems with the design. The human hand anatomy is remarkably variable. Each deficiency resulted in one or more design modifications.

 

Slowly BiPAD® began to meet all clinical and business case requirements. Sixty iterations and five years later, we had completed the commercial production version of the BiPAD device, designed to work with any forceps, generator, and hand morphologies. BiPAD® continues to evolve.

Nurses and staff should never have to crawl under the operating table.

Why did I spend so much time doing this?

 

Because nurses and staff should never have to crawl under the operating table. Surgeons should never have to stare down at the floor to find the bipolar forceps when they try to control hemorrhage.

Surgeons should avoid the use of monopolar electrosurgery, i.e. BOVIE, in place of  bipolar forceps electrosurgery to achieve hemostasis.

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Moreover, surgeons should avoid the use of monopolar electrosurgery, i.e. BOVIE, in place of bipolar forceps electrosurgery to achieve hemostasis.

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Bipolar forceps electrosurgery is safer and more efficient at achieving hemostasis.

 

"Buzzing" a forceps with BOVIE is not the same as using bipolar forceps electrosurgery because in monopolar electrosurgery, the patient is part of the circuit and current spread can be unpredictable.

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if you are not sure why use of monopolar electrosurgery for hemostasis can cause unexpected complications, consider registering for our free monthly webinar: "AVOIDING ELECTROSURGICAL CATASTOPHES". (Register here)

 

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