If the generators are used at a higher power setting, the
electric field emitted by them when used in surgical procedures
will increase, but even at these low settings, the electric field is
shown to be at concerning levels.
At these settings and in all cases, no electromagnetic
interference was observed at any of the classical medical
devices used in the operating theatre.
In order to determine if these cases will appear, the power
setting was increased up to 100 W for the radio/electrosurgical
devices and the testing procedure was kept the same.
The only medical devices that were affected by the
electromagnetic emissions due to the activation of the
generators were a patient monitor and a CRT monitor from a
C-Arm.
This kind of interference was only observed at the
maximum power setting, at a distance of 2 m from the active
handpiece, and only when the cutting mode was used. In these
cases, the electric field emitted by the generators would exceed
hundreds of V/m.
The patient monitor displayed interference noise on the
EKG recording and this phenomena had a transitory effect, the
device returning to normal functioning after the generator was
stopped.
The C-Arm monitor displayed flickering when the
generator was activated, also returning to normal functioning
after ceasing the activation.
The electric field emitted by the devices tested in the
laboratory was comparable to the preliminary tests results
obtained in the hospital.