Insulation failure in electrosurgery instrumentation: a prospective evaluation

Background The use of electrosurgery has expanded to a wide variety of surgical specialities, but it has also been accompanied by its share of complications, including thermal injuries to nontargeted tissues, caused by a break or defect in the insulation of the instrument’s coat. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and the location of insulation failures (IFs) in electrosurgical instruments, then to assess the necessity of routine IF testing.