title: The use of bipolar technology in hysteroscopy.
abstract: Bipolar technology was introduced in the hysteroscopic clinical use in 1999, by the design of both loop electrodes addressed to resectoscopic surgery and miniaturized electrodes adaptable to small-size hysteroscopes. The need of an electrolytic solution as distension medium and the spatial relationships between the active and return bipolar electrode avoid, by definition, the risks of severe electrolyte imbalance syndromes and unpredictable electrical burns, sometimes complicating monopolar surgery. The true revolution in the hysteroscopy care has achieved through the availability of mini-hysteroscopes not requiring cervical dilatation, thus limiting uterine wall damages and allowing surgeons to manage several endometrial pathologies by mini-invasive procedures using an effective electrosurgical bipolar instrumentation. Many surgical interventions, traditionally accomplished by the resectoscope in a surgical room theatre, can be now carried out in an outpatient setting without any support from anesthesia. The patients' avoidance of surgical room access and the quick return to daily activities lead to an obvious - but not fully demonstrated - improvement in the medical and social costs associated to outpatient operative hysteroscopy. In the field of resectoscopy, bipolar electrodes are clinically as effective as monopolar devices. Randomized trials showed that bipolar resectoscopic technology prevents the electrolyte imbalance observed after monopolar surgery. However, in daily clinical practice the assumedly safer profile of bipolar with respect to monopolar resectoscopy has not been demonstrated yet.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Public Hospital of Lodi, Lodi, Italy - giancarlo.garuti@tiscali.it.
authors.forename: Stefania
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Calabrese
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: DE Alberti
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garuti
mesh_terms: D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004566:Electrodes; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020702:Hysteroscopes; D015907:Hysteroscopy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic