[Causes and prevention of burnings caused by electrocoagulation during surgery (author's transl)]

During surgery accidential burnings caused by electrocoagulation are quite often. They are usually due to contact of patients with grounded parts of the table or the monitoring devices. Besides that burnings occur because of insufficient fixation of the neutral electrode. To prevent injuries the patient must be isolated carefully from every grounded metal. The neutral electrode should be fixed as close as possible to the area which is operated on and should be of a broad contact. Other more rarely occurring causes of burnings and their prevention are described.