PEAK PlasmaBlade electrosurgery scalpel is amazing, disgusting

Okay, so we're not exactly doctors, but we couldn't help but be intrigued by PEAK Surgical's announcement today that its PlasmaBlade electrosurgery scalpel had completed preclinical testing with positive results. Unlike traditional electrosurgery tools like the bovie cutter, the PlasmaBlade operates at low temperatures, using pulsed plasma energy to cut tissue and control bleeding. Then, stupidly, we watched the video. Let's just say now that it no longer matters to us that surgeons using the PEAK PlasmaBlade produce "minimal collateral damage" to tissue and that bleeding was reduced. Sure, it's great for the surgeons, but our eyes? Not going to be the same.

[Via MedGadget]

Read - PEAK PlasmaBlade press release
Watch - PEAK PlasmaBlade demo video (WARNING: not for the squeamish, we mean it!)

[Anthony @ May 8th 2008 5:11AM]

intense

[Flashpoint @ May 8th 2008 8:23AM]

"The wounds all fused...cauterized...

...what the hell could have done this to a man"?

[tiuk @ May 8th 2008 10:38AM]

Nice, first thing I thought of when I saw this ;)

[Neoprimal @ May 8th 2008 5:11AM]

As someone that's not in the medical field...that was better than a pretty good horror movie. Not the scare factor of course...but the gross factor was pretty good. I thought that 'flesh/meat' was fake at the start, till I saw the blood trickling in...

[Break point @ May 8th 2008 5:15AM]

The dark skin was a dead human. The light skin a live pig.

[Readthe Fineprint @ May 8th 2008 6:16AM]

> The dark skin was a dead human...

I wonder who donated their body to "science" without knowing they would be used in an ad...

[Flashpoint @ May 8th 2008 10:37AM]

I'll donate my body to science if they can revive me as a vicious cyborg that thirsts for human blood - yet has a human connection to the squirrels that I once hated as a living human.

[Fara @ May 8th 2008 5:19AM]

Hahaha. I thought you guys knew: never click a link on the internet, unless you're prepared to be digusted.

By the way, I clicked the link. I was expecting something gross. That wasn't. At all.

[Makalu @ May 9th 2008 6:29PM]

So did I. Things don't seem to disgust me. Don't know why.

[Dani @ May 8th 2008 5:26AM]

I had to stop it at the first scalpel shot; fact is indeed far worse than fiction.

[Adler @ May 8th 2008 5:29AM]

Hahahah what do you expected to see in a video that demoes a tool for cutting flesh? :P

Wait until the amazing chainsaw-3000 with multi-touch technology is out... THAT video will be something!

And btw, it seems a very cool and handy tool! I hope it will get used soon in every hospital.

[Will H. @ May 8th 2008 5:31AM]

The GOOGLES@! THEY DO NOTHING!!@!@

[JLTate @ May 8th 2008 12:50PM]

Google never promised to save you from yourself.

[j_g_puff @ May 8th 2008 5:33AM]

That thing looks like a child's toy. If I saw my surgeon advancing towards me with a lime-green plastic plasma-wand, i'd soil myself.


Do you think the two buttons produce realistic "fssszzzzzzzzzztt" and "sssschhhllwwapp!" sounds? Will it hook up to my Fisher Price Junior Surgeon playtable?

[Artie Lange @ May 8th 2008 5:36AM]

Ex vivo = cadaver
Porcine = live pig

Poor, poor pig.

[scott @ May 8th 2008 5:38AM]

OMG! I was seriously PEAK's first intern a couple years ago! Congrats to John Tighe and the team!

[walk @ May 8th 2008 6:01AM]

is no-one else thinking early form of lightsaber? would be pretty cool to see a 4ft version

[Adam @ May 8th 2008 6:34AM]

yeah, 1st stage of creating a lightsaber

anyways, pretty cool tech going on there, using a very strong force to do cutting.

now the question is can it be used on other things such as wood, metals and plastics? as that would be a handy thing to have around

[Life of Brian @ May 8th 2008 12:31PM]

Yeah! You can chop off someone's head, and no bleeding! Great!

Why oh why did I watch that video?

[Bad Beaver @ May 8th 2008 6:33AM]

Great, now if you need surgery, you're going to inquire beforehand whether they use this or the old methods. Most impressive results.

And you guys are wimps, that video was highly interesting. Noticed those tiny bubbles of fat on the human body? Awesome. Below the hide, you all look like that.

[Pat @ May 8th 2008 6:46AM]

Watched the vid. Kinda hungry now..

[webon @ May 8th 2008 11:23AM]

the real thing (the bovie) smells like BBQ no kidding so yeah you could get hungry... k maybe not

[joey k @ May 8th 2008 6:57AM]

I just threw up in my mouth a little....

[André @ May 8th 2008 7:04AM]

I've seen worse, much worse.

My ex is studying veterinary medicin and boy can she show some freaky stuff. On that note - do not, I strongly emphasize this, do not eat fish unless it have been properly frozen (-50 celcius for 24 hours or -25 celcius for a week) if you are outside of Europe.

[tkn0spdr @ May 8th 2008 7:07AM]

Tough to eat sushi in America under those conditions. :)

[cough @ May 8th 2008 7:23AM]

I need to know WHY man! Tell me! I love fish! Is there something wrong with the fish!?

The video wasn't that bad. Neat tool. Now make a sword out of it. A knife, at least.

[LarryLarryLarry @ May 8th 2008 7:32AM]

When did fish diseases start respecting national borders?

[André @ May 8th 2008 9:12AM]

Because of the enormous amounts of endoparasites in fish.

Many endoparasites (many kinds of worm) live in the muscular tissue of fish and when digested, they infect the host body eating them.

Nothing to worry about if frozen correctly (at least - 20 degree celcius in 24 hours). This will kill most, if not all, parasites in the fish.

Well, I suppose this is more important when making sushi - which is raw fish ;)

[CJ @ May 8th 2008 11:00AM]

Import regulations for sushi-grade fish coming into the US require the freezing temperatures and time periods listed.

And we all have full faith and trust in our USDA inspectors at the border, right???

[Matt @ May 8th 2008 10:22PM]

I'm a surgical technologist, and I can tell you, raw human muscle looks just like raw tuna fish.

[tkn0spdr @ May 8th 2008 7:05AM]

It's just too bad that they have no idea what quantum leap means, now if they had said paradigm shift...
A quantum leap in technology really isn't all that great, ya know?

Thanks,
David
http://www.FloridaPets.org

[tcc3 @ May 8th 2008 8:58AM]

Well you see:


Theorizing that he could time travel within his own life time, Dr Sam Beckett stepped in to the Quantum Leap accelerator....and vanished!

[tcc3 @ May 8th 2008 8:58AM]

I dont know what that has to do with plasma scalpels though.

[dal738ng @ May 8th 2008 7:24AM]

That video was not bad at all. I must admit, I was hungry for some tapioca pudding after watching it.

[Adam @ May 8th 2008 7:45AM]

I lost consciousness in the shower and collapsed onto the faucet. It was a pretty nice gash, and i got to see some fat. It was kinda cool.

Now that I think about it, maybe when I was unconscious someone came into my apartment, and cut me open with the plasma blade and made it look like I fell on the faucet... I just blew my own mind.

That video was pretty tame. They have better looking gore on tv medical dramas.

[Ratteler @ May 8th 2008 8:15AM]

...And now I'm hungry for pork rinds. DAMMIT!

[Tom Chandler @ May 8th 2008 8:59AM]

Bayonet anyone?

[thomas Whatley @ May 8th 2008 9:09AM]

Vader: I see you've fashioned a new light saber,... it's kinda small isn't it... I mean not that size ... never mind.

[webon @ May 8th 2008 11:28AM]

you must mean:



I see your Schwartz's is as big as mine!

[RandyFD @ May 8th 2008 9:23AM]

Well thats pretty cool, hopefully it will be in use by the time I get out of school.

Now all hope for is that those damn robot surgeons don't take my job too soon.

[scott @ May 8th 2008 9:50AM]

A couple things you guys can't tell from the video that I experienced when testing the PEAK PlasmaBlade prototype:

-It might've been only with the Bovie, but the limbs of the alive/dead pig we tested this thing on twitched when we applied the blade to it (similar to humans twitching when you use defibrillators)
-The PEAK blade gives off a reduced amount, but sill an amount of smoke. The smoke reaks like no other, stays on your clothes, and is possibly carcinogenic.

[nick @ May 8th 2008 10:18AM]

phew I was worried that we'd have to import the smell! youre not in surgery without the scent of burning flesh wafting through the air as you work...

[Firen @ May 8th 2008 10:20AM]

Uh.. looks interesting. 'd rather do anatomy lessons with one of those instead of a scalpel. looks more interesting and exciting!

[glucoseboy @ May 8th 2008 12:43PM]

Cool stuff, Glad to see improvements.

When my wife had my daughter, the OBs used a Bovie (it was a C-section delivery). I remember the sound quite vividly, kinda like a low crackle as it cut.

I remember telling her "hey honey, you hear that? It's your flesh burning"

She still hasn't forgiven me for that.

[JLTate @ May 8th 2008 12:55PM]

Wow. Just wow.

[Joe Anstine @ May 8th 2008 12:50PM]

wow thaz a lot of fat...is sweet though. I'd rather see improvements like this than autonomous robot surgeons...robots still will never have the instincts that a Human will. Or will they...

[Brad Major @ May 8th 2008 4:24PM]

This video stings the nostrils.

[Ramune @ May 8th 2008 6:26PM]

After going to a certain "rotten" website a few days ago, I feel immune to ever seeing anything else more intense than what I've already seen.

[Rob @ May 9th 2008 12:37AM]

Not disgusting at all. If you get disgusted seeing that, you are weak.

[albtms @ May 9th 2008 5:42AM]

Wow, I'm no med student or anything but that's quite an impressive tool.

Suddenly, I have an idea for an invention. I'll engineer potatoes to grow with butter inside!