What does electrosurgery mean?
Electrosurgery is a medical technique that uses high-frequency electric current to cut, coagulate, or destroy body tissue instead of relying on a scalpel alone. Because the current is delivered at frequencies that do not stimulate nerves or muscles, patients can be operated on without experiencing electric shock, while the heat generated at the electrode tip simultaneously seals small blood vessels and reduces bleeding. The approach comes in two main configurations: monopolar electrosurgery, in which current passes from an active electrode through the patient's body to a grounding pad, and bipolar electrosurgery, in which the circuit is confined between two tips of an instrument such as forceps. Dermatologists use electrosurgery for minor procedures like removing skin lesions, while surgeons rely on it extensively for hemostasis during operations. It is a formal, technical term found chiefly in clinical writing, where it overlaps loosely with 'electrocautery' and 'diathermy', though these are not strictly identical.
nounThe use of high-frequency electric current to cut, coagulate, desiccate, or destroy body tissue during surgical or minor medical procedures.
- The surgical technique of using high-frequency alternating electric current to incise, coagulate, or destroy tissue.
"The surgeon removed the lesion using electrosurgery rather than a traditional scalpel."
"Most of the bleeding was controlled during the operation by electrosurgery rather than sutures."
"Dermatologists commonly use electrosurgery to remove skin tags and seborrheic keratoses in the clinic."
Rarely pluralized; the word normally functions as an uncountable mass noun referring to the technique in general.
"The clinic performed hundreds of electrosurgeries last year."
The electrosurgical unit was popularized in the 1920s after a physicist's spark-gap experiments showed that high-frequency current could cut flesh without shocking the patient.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of electrosurgery
The word combines 'electro-', from the Greek 'ēlektron' (amber), the root that gave English 'electricity' and its many derivatives, with 'surgery', which derives ultimately from the Greek 'cheirourgia', meaning work done by hand. The compound arose in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as physicians began applying newly developed high-frequency electrical apparatus to operative medicine. Related terms sharing the same roots include 'electric', 'electron', and 'electrical' on one side and 'surgeon' and 'chirurgical' on the other.
Related word forms
How electrosurgery is actually used
A technical term used almost exclusively in medical and veterinary contexts; it is uncountable in ordinary use. In everyday clinical speech it is sometimes used interchangeably with 'electrocautery' and 'diathermy' (the latter especially in British usage), though specialists distinguish them.
Easily confused with electrosurgery
Electrocautery is the broader, often looser term for burning tissue with electricity-derived heat, whereas electrosurgery properly refers to passing high-frequency current through the tissue itself to cut or coagulate.