Surgical Diathermy versus Scalpel Incision in Elective Surgery: A Comparative Study

Background: Ancient scalpels were found in a Bronze age settlement older than 2100 BC in Turkey. Since that time it has been used in surgery. Surgical diathermy was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century. Since inception in 1929 it has been used in surgical practice (Lawrenson and Stephens, 1970). Surgical diathermy is used for tissue dissection, cutting and hemostasis. Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to observe the outcome between cutting diathermy and scalpel incision. Methodology: It was a comparative study carried out in the Department of Surgery, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), from February 2017 to January 2018. A total of 64 patients age >18yrs both sex of male and female meet the inclusion criteria undergoing elective surgery at general surgery ward of BSMMU were enrolled as study population. A purposive sampling methods were followed for respondent’s selection. Total patients were divided in to two groups, Group I was diathermy and Group II was scalpel. Results: The mean age in Group I was 48.78±14.54, compared to the mean age in Group II which was 44.28±15.29. Most of the patients were 46-55 age groups. Minimum age of patient was 19 and maximum age was 70 in Group I, minimum age of patient was 22 in and maximum age was 76 in Group II. Male patients were 17(53.1%) and females were 15(46.9%) in Group I, in Group II males were 19(59.4%) and females were 13(40.6%). Mean BMI, in Group I was 21.03±2.45, compared to 20.42±2.90 in group II, statistically was not significant and thereby the two groups remain comparable. Minimum BMI was 16.94 kg/m2 and maximum BMI was 27.59 kg/m2 in Group I. Minimum BMI was 15.23 kg/m2 and maximum BMI was 25.83 kg/m2 in Group II. Mean Hb (gm/dl) was 11.46± 1.00 in group I and 11.51±0.98 in group II. The mean values of pain score of each day that is from day one to day five for Group I were 5.41, 4.78, 3.91, 3.00, 1.94 in comparison to 7.69, 6.88, 6.06, 5.19, 4.09 for Group II. .........