Métodos para análise de correntes elétricas de equipamentos eletromédicos em procedimentos cirúrgicos e detecção de periculosidade aos pacientes

Abstract

Objective : The thesis has as main goal the improvement of electrical safety in surgical procedures. It can be find risks of health hazards of the patients from the use of electromedical equipment (EME) that operates with electricity and are susceptible to failure. The consequence of these electrical failures taken into account in this thesis is a differential current (leakage) improper passing through a patient’s body, thus creating a microshock. Materials and Methods : A literature review was performed, concerning the electrical safety norms related with EMEs, facilities in critical hospital environments such as surgical centers and physiological effects of electrical current on the human body. A study about mathematical/statistical methods that can be used to calculate similarity between electrical current waveforms was also built. Therefore, a reference platform capable of capturing EMEs differential current during surgical procedures was developed. Accordingly, a methodology of differential current analysis is proposed, generating a scale of dangerousness relating to electrical current value, frequency spectrum and the similarity between simultaneous waveforms. Results : The reference platform was validated in the laboratory using TN-S and IT medical earthing systems. For validation, in both grounding systems were artificially produced leakage currents and microshocks, which were analyzed in the scales dangerousness proposed. Furthermore, differential current events were captured with the reference platform embedded in gas and socket panel of an operating room, in order to provide an evaluation in real environment of use. Discussion of results : laboratory tests have proven that the reference platform is able to capture the differential current events with the necessary precision to a broad analysis. The proposed dangerousness scales proved to be adequate for the analysis of the events captured in six months of use at the surgical center. In this period, at least 49 situations with danger alert were detected. With the similarity scale between electric current waveforms, progress was made in the detection of microshock. Conclusion : It can be stated that this thesis contributed to the improvement of electrical safety during surgical procedures. The reference platform, using the dangerousness scale proposed, can distinguish between a meaningless event and an event with a real risk. Maybe in the future, the knowledge produced in this thesis can incorporate electrical safety norms in surgical procedures.