Monday, January 5, 2009

TCU Comparison Charts

TCU vs. ELECTROSURGICAL UNITS
	TCU	ELECTROSURGICAL UNITS

METHOD OF OPERATION	HEAT	HIGH FREQUENCY CURRENT

GROUNDING REQUIRED	NO	YES

FUNCTIONS ON BONE, NAIL & CARTILAGE	YES	NO

USE IN WET FIELD	YES	NOT IDEAL

USE WITH PACEMAKER AND ICD	YES	NO

POTENTIAL FOR CHANNELING OF CURRENT	NO	YES

ELECTRICAL INTERFERENCE WITH OTHER ELECTRICAL DEVICES IN ROOM	NO	YES

COST	$650.00	$900.00 PLUS

TCU vs. BATTERY OPERATED CAUTERIES
	TCU	BATTERY CAUTERIES

POWER SOURCE	ELECTRICAL OUTLET	2 AA BATTERIES

OUTPUT CURRENT	10+ AMPS	MINIMAL

TEMPERATURE RANGE	VARIABLE	FIXED

TEMPERATURE STABILITY	CONSTANT	DROPS RAPIDLY

HEATING FILAMENT DIAMETER	0.02	0.01

DISPOSABLE/REUSABLE	REUSABLE	DISPOSABLE

STERILE/NON-STERILE	PACKAGED NON-STERILE (HANDPIECE/ELECTRODE AUTOCLAVABLE)	PACKAGED STERILE (FOR SINGLE USE)

UNITS REQUIRED PER PROCEDURE	1	1+

WASTE	NONE	COMPLETE UNIT (WITH BATTERIES) DISPOSED OF AFTER EACH PROCEDURE

TCU vs. ELECTROSURGICAL UNITS