title: A Study on Performance and Safety Tests of Electrosurgical Equipment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Modern medicine employs a wide variety of instruments with different physiological effects and measurements. Periodic verifications are routinely used in legal metrology for industrial measuring instruments. The correct operation of electrosurgical generators is essential to ensure patient's safety and management of the risks associated with the use of high and low frequency electrical currents on human body.
  
  
  METHODS
  The metrological reliability of 20 electrosurgical equipment in six hospitals (3 private and 3 public) was evaluated in one of the provinces of Iran according to international and national standards.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The achieved results show that HF leakage current of ground-referenced generators are more than isolated generators and the power analysis of only eight units delivered acceptable output values and the precision in the output power measurements was low.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results indicate a need for new and severe regulations on periodic performance verifications and medical equipment quality control program especially in high risk instruments. It is also necessary to provide training courses for operating staff in the field of meterology in medicine to be acquianted with critical parameters to get accuracy results with operation room equipment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Standard Research Institiute, Karaj, Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tavakoli Golpaygani
authors.affiliation: Ionizing and Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection Research Center, Paramedical Sciences School, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran ; Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Movahedi
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST), Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reza
keywords:  Electrosurgical Equipmen ;  High Frequency ;  Medical Electrical Equipment;  Patient Safety ; Meterology 