Diathermy

Diathermy
Intervention
ICD-9-CM	93.34
MeSH	D003972

In the natural sciences, the term diathermy means "electrically induced heat" and is commonly used for muscle relaxation. It is also a method of heating tissue electromagnetically or ultrasonically for therapeutic purposes in medicine.

Surgical uses

Surgical diathermy is usually better known as "electrosurgery." (It is also referred to occasionally as "electrocautery", but see disambiguation below). Electrosurgery and surgical diathermy involve the use of high frequency A.C. electrical current in surgery as either a cutting modality, or else to cauterize small blood vessels to stop bleeding. This technique induces localized tissue burning and damage, the zone of which is controlled by the frequency and power of the device. Some sources insist that electrosurgery be applied to surgery accomplished by high frequency A.C. cutting, and that "electrocautery" be used only for the practice of cauterization with heated nichrome wires powered by D.C. current, as in the handheld battery-operated portable cautery tools.

History

Diathermy was used for the first time on gynecology by the spanish doctor Celedonio Calatayud in 1910.

Trivia

Medical Diathermy devices were used to cause interference to German radio beams used for targeting night time bombing raids in WWII during the Battle of the Beams.

See also

• dielectric heating
• heat therapy