PEAK PlasmaBlade™ vs. Traditional Electrosurgery in Abdominoplasty

Abdominoplasty is a cosmetic surgical procedure performed to correct abdominal elastosis with skin and fat redundancy. During the procedure, a scalpel and traditional electrosurgical device are used to cut away this excess skin and fat from the abdomen and the underlying muscles are tightened together with sutures. The PEAK PlasmaBlade™ uses pulsed radiofrequency (RF) energy to enable precision cutting and coagulating at the point of application, without the thermal damage to surrounding tissues that is normally seen with traditional electrosurgery. The PlasmaBlade has received FDA clearance for use in plastic, general, and ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgery, and has demonstrated significantly reduced serous drainage in tissue reduction surgeries, like abdominoplasty. A total of twenty (20) human subjects were recruited from the local community against standardized inclusion/exclusion criteria. Once enrolled, each patient underwent placement of three sets of full-thickness comparison incisions in their abdominal skin with a standard scalpel, PlasmaBlade, and traditional electrosurgery at six (6) and three (3) weeks prior to abdominoplasty, and on the day of surgery under general anesthesia. Subjects were then randomized to undergo abdominoplasty with the PlasmaBlade or the SOC (scalpel and traditional electrosurgery). Following abdominoplasty, harvested healed incisions were submitted for histological analysis and burst strength testing and additional data were recorded in the 10 day post-operative period.