J-Plasma is a new and potentially revolutionary medical device which uses an advanced state of matter called plasma, but it is also a very special type of plasma called “cold plasma.”
Plasma, sometimes referred to as the fourth state of matter, behaves like a gas, but also conducts electricity like a wire, because it is ionized. We can think of an atom as being like a miniature solar system with the Sun (nucleus) in the center and planets (electrons) orbiting around it. The nucleus and the electrons of an atom are equally and oppositely charged, so overall, an atom is electrically neutral. However, if we remove one of the orbiting electrons, there is an imbalance and the atom is now electrically charged and called an ion.
So plasma consists of ions, which are atoms that have lost one or more electrons, and also the free electrons that came from those atoms. We can remove the electron from a neutral atom by heating the atom to many thousands of degrees, basically shaking the electron off the atom. Or, we can use an electric field to pull the electron off. This is how J-Plasma works, by flowing neutral atoms of Helium over a sharp conductive point that is held at high voltage.
Plasma can be divided into two broad categories: thermal plasma and non-thermal or cold plasma. Some examples of thermal plasma include a welding torch, a lightning bolt, and the surface of the Sun. These are very hot, potentially dangerous plasmas where many, if not most of the atoms are ionized. In contrast, non-thermal or cold plasma has only a small fraction of its atoms ionized. Examples of cold plasma include fluorescent lamps and neon signs.
If the J-Plasma beam were tuned to a very gentle mode, only about one in a million Helium atoms, or less, would be ionized. Even at this low level of ionization, the J-Plasma beam is clearly visible and rather resembles a miniature version of Luke Skywalker’s Light Saber from the Star Wars movie. If the J-Plasma beam were tuned to an aggressive mode, still only about one in a thousand Helium atoms would be ionized. So the vast majority of Helium gas atoms in the J-Plasma beam is not ionized and is at or close to room temperature, providing a highly localized effect and preventing collateral damage to surrounding healthy tissue.
Let us know if you have any questions! Feel free to contact us or leave a comment below.
Additional J-Plasma Resources:
Advancements in J-Plasma Surgical Tools
J-Plasma: An Advanced Cold Plasma Surgical Tool
Understanding J-Plasma: What is Plasma?
Photo courtesy of OpenCage
A funny thing happened on the way to retirement 17 years ago for our engineering manager Fred Baron...he didn't. I met Fred around 1978 at his company Sun Coast Design Services. Fred was designing and making all of the air operated equipment that formed, bent or shaped the products at Medical Product Development Incorporated. MPDI was the first company that through a variety of steps became Aaron Medical and ultimately merged with Bovie Medical Corporation.
We were in the process of expanding the product line and Fred was designing the equipment we needed. I remember stepping into his building in Clearwater, Florida going past Ruth his receptionist, stepping over his dog Tramp laying next to his desk, and sitting down with Fred. He had the ability to visualize not only the product, but the equipment that was used to form it. In the early days they also did all of our drawings. That was prior to CAD. The designer stood with a pencil and physically drew the parts. He did work for other medical companies in the area, a defense contractor as well as Campbell's Soup. I will come back to the soup company as part of my favorite "Fred story" later. We worked together with Fred and his shop for the next decade.
Fred was great at figuring out how to do things better, but the day to day payroll and taxes was one of the things he didn't enjoy at all. Periodically Fred would call and ask for an advance to take care of taxes or some other cash flow issue, and since he was always doing something for us it wasn't a problem. As the 1990's came around Fred talked more and more about retirement. Eventually we determined that buying the machine shop made the most sense and we shook hands on a deal in November of 1995. Part of that deal was that Fred had to help with the transition and work with us for a year. We moved the shop into our facility in St. Petersburg, Florida and Fred came to work to fulfill his obligation. It didn't take Fred long to realize that this new job let him do what he enjoyed and put the responsibility of all payables, including taxes in the accounting department. Initially we kept some of his outside work, but eventually had to phase that out because we were busier and busier and needed all of his attention.
OK, my favorite Fred story....While Fred was still running his shop in Clearwater, a group from Campbell's Soup came to see how an automated system he was designing for them was coming along. Fred was giving his presentation when Tramp came up and barked at him. If you remember Tramp was the dog I stepped over the first time I met Fred. Fred told him to go lay down, and he did. Ten minutes later Tramp came back and barked at Fred again. Fred still talking with the soup guys once again tells Tramp to go lay down. Ten more minutes pass and Tramp walk up to Fred who still is talking to the group, hikes his leg, and relieves himself on Fred's leg. I couldn't make that up, you know it is true...
As I type this blog, Fred has begun his 17th year with us. He is our oldest employee chronologically at 79, holds the title of Engineering Manager, has responsibility for all functions related to the CAD department and staff therein. He also assists in the development of new machine requirements and the design functions of new products.
We are thrilled to have Fred as part of the Bovie Medical Corporation team, at least until he retires.
J. Robert Saron
President, Bovie Medical Corporation
For those of you who aren’t aware of our quarterly promotions, we wanted to take this opportunity to share our current campaign: The Bovie 2012 Sleep Well Promotion
The Bovie 2012 Sleep Well Promotion Guide Includes:
Download the Bovie 2012 Sleep Well Promotion Guide
We’re excited about this campaign, and it is valid April 1st to June 30th. Don’t miss your chance to benefit! Learn more about this offer now!
This blog post is the second of two blogs written by Rob Saron, speaking on Living an MBA Class.
MegaDyne is a company based in Utah that brought a coated electrode to the hospital market and I always thought this should be taught in an MBA class. While I don’t particularly like MegaDyne, they were the first company to drag me into Federal Court on a patent infringement charge. I suppose it would not be out of line for me to complain about the fact that I sighted their now expired patent and actually had a patent of my own that they were suing me over. The US Patent and Trademark office looked at the two products and allowed my patent, and I still got to see the inside of a courtroom. Ultimately, the judge trying the case made what I considered a VERY wide interpretation of what about three mills meant…but wait, this isn’t the point of this blog, so let me get back to the point.
"The Best Story Always Wins"
MegaDyne introduced a coated electrode that really didn’t cut as well, cost about ten times as much, but cleaned up easier. The end result was the surgeons liked being able to wipe the blade off and continue with the surgical case. Think about selling anything that doesn’t work as well as the original, and costs ten times as much…how many could you sell? Well they hit on something. It turns out, as my good friend Scott Fanning says, “the best story always wins”. Over time they became the dominant player in this market. They also had the foresight to realize that eventually their patent would run out. To protect themselves further they got a registered trademark on the color green. The coating they were using was green. They didn’t do anything special to make it green, it just came that way. So the result was, when you saw a coated electrode, the user would know that it is a MegaDyne product. If it was blue, black or whatever other color it might be, then you knew it was from a different company.
We ended up settling the case and leaving the market for a period of time, but today we are back. Every time we sell a coated electrode I know it is coming at the expense of MegaDyne. I have made back all of the money, and then some, but it was one of those learning experiences that life hands us from time to time.
Today's Take-away...
I still don’t like MegaDyne, but I admire them for what they accomplished. As a follow up MBA class, we could discuss the missed opportunity for the shareholders of this company by not selling it when it was at its height in the market, but that is for another day.
Feel free to reach out or leave a comment below.
J. Robert Saron
President, Bovie Medical Corporation
Image: jannoon028 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
If you follow the history of Bovie Medical Corporation and William T. Bovie you learn about the wonderful invention of electrosurgery. If you follow Aaron Medical, which today is part of Bovie Medical Corporation, there is an interesting business lesson. The name Aaron Medical came from a board meeting where we changed our name from Key Technologies at the time to be ahead of Concept, Inc. in the directory. We took my last name, Saron and changed the first letter to an "A" and presto you have the first name on any product listing we were on, but that is not the lesson.
Concept was the originator of the battery powered cautery device. They owned the market, to the tune of 95% market share. Aaron Medical had a line of battery operated cauteries that had a few advantages including price, and we could barely give them away. We did some private label projects and picked up a couple of points of market, but it was a serious struggle. They say in business that hardwork and luck go together. You need to work hard enough and long enough to be in a position to get lucky, and that is exactly what we did.
Bristol Meyers came in out of nowhere and purchased Concept. They then took the battery operated cautery products and sent them to another division that they owned named Xomed.
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Step one of what not to do: Xomed didn’t like the numbering system, so they added a couple of numbers to the front, and one to the end, and overnight their product was much harder to find.
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Step two of what not to do: Cut off all of your long time distributors.
Keep in mind, it was these same distributors that built Concept to own the market. They also knew where the product was being sold and what they were buying. So what did the distributors almost immediately do? The answer of course was call Aaron Medical and see if they could purchase cauteries. While they were at it they produced a shopping list of other products that they were interested in buying since they couldn’t get them from Concept anymore either. Actually when the product went to Xomed the name Concept disappeared. So no name recognition, no catalog number recognition and your distributor can’t get it for you. But they could recommend this little company with a better product that could get them what they wanted. The result: Our business doubled in that first year.
Life is a learning experience, just sometimes you don’t like the classes you are forced to take. In this case it was a learning experience that we enjoyed. Today we are far and away the market leader in these types of devices. I just wish I knew who to thank.
Feel free to reach out or leave a comment below. Read Rob Saron's follow-up blog: Another MBA Class Opportunity
J. Robert Saron
President, Bovie Medical Corporation
Image: criminalatt / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
J-Plasma is a new and potentially, revolutionary medical tool which employs an advanced state of matter called plasma.
But what is plasma?
Plasma is often referred to as the fourth state of matter. Consider, for example, a frozen ice cube which is a solid and the first state of matter. If we heat the ice cube, eventually it will melt and turn into water, which is a liquid and the second state of matter. If we continue to heat the water, eventually it will boil and turn into steam, which is a gas and the third state of matter. Finally, if we continue to heat the steam, to many thousands of degrees, it will become electrically charged (ionized) as plasma, the fourth state of matter.
Since plasma is electrically charged and ionized, it will conduct electricity just like a wire, even though it behaves more like a gas. So we can deliver electrical energy to an operative site without physically making contact with any surface, using a plasma beam. This has important consequences in maintaining sterile conditions and not spreading potential contamination. It is non-contact surgery when only the plasma beam is used.
J-Plasma Beam
In the J-Plasma beam, rather than heating the helium gas to very high temperatures to ionize it and turn it into plasma, we instead apply an electric field to a sharp conductive point over which the helium is flowing. But the effect is the same, the helium becomes ionized and will now conduct electrical energy to the operative site.
This also gives us two very important independent controls on the J-Plasma beam to produce a wide range of operative effects. One of these independent controls is the gas flow rate, and the other is the amount of electrical energy delivered into the J-Plasma beam. By adjusting the ratio of these two independent controls, we can tune the J-Plasma beam over a wide range of effects. For example, a high level of electrical energy and small amount of gas flow produces a powerful ablative beam, theoretically useful in removing diseased tissue. On the other hand, a low level of electrical energy and high gas flow rate produces a very gentle beam useful in delicate procedures. The effect of the J-Plasma beam can be continuously tuned between these extremes, giving it a wide range of potential medical applications.
New Pending Patent:
#12/006,680 “Electrosurgical Device to Generate a Plasma Stream” by Konesky, filed Nov 12, 2011. (This is a Continuation of a previously granted Patent with new additional claims, so there now are four granted and four pending patents related to J-Plasma). Read more about this potentially, revolutionary surgical tool and other patents here.
What else would you like to learn about J-Plasma?
Feel free to contact us or leave a comment below.
Back when Bovie Medical Corporation was still called Aaron Medical, we dreamed up a numbering system that made perfect sense to us. We affectionately referred to it as the "Einstein numbering system." As if Albert Einstein would dream up such a system.
Our first product ever, were disposable penlights which were packaged six per pack. Three sixes would be biblically wrong, so we called it #6666. It stands today in our product line, some 34 years later, as our six pack of disposable penlights. We moved onto larger ophthalmic lights and started with the number six, second number was eight (possibly because it was about 8” long) and then 00, 01, 02, 03 and 04.
Next came cauteries, and we decided that even numbers would be low temperature and odd numbers high. We started with AA for Aaron and 00 was low temperature ophthalmic and then 01 was high temperature fine tip. We manufacture more battery operated cauteries than anyone in the world, and have more than 15 catalog numbers which are mainly made up of one time use sterile disposables. We do also manufacture a low temperature and high temperature replaceable battery and replaceable tip cautery we call Change-A-Tip. We sell replacement disposable tips pre-packaged sterile, which makes it more environmentally friendly and saves money per use.
In the early 90’s our main competitor cut off their distributors, who naturally approached us to see if we could help. They gave us a list of products and we went to work. Thankfully that was a long time ago, because today the paperwork to get these products to market, not to mention money for testing, would have made it impossible. But that was then, and a new more rudimentary numbering system began…0001 was the first product and I will bet you can guess what the next 12 might be.
Shortly after this, we got into electrosurgery for the first time. A friend approached me and was struggling with her manufacturing company that made stainless steel electrodes. She had lost a big customer and was worried. I said that I didn't know much about electrodes, but she could give me a list of what she thought we should carry. The Einstein system kicked back in and our new numbering began with a blade electrode at ES01, ES for electrosurgery and 01 for the first electrode. We started with 13 and are now in the sixties headed for more. We also added a coated electrode process with PTFE and in the case of a blade electrode we decided to add a T to the end of any electrode, so ES01 became ES01T. The exact same electrode except with a PTFE coating made it easier for our sales force and for our manufacturing team.
Next step for the company was a big one, and that was into the actual electrosurgical units that power these electrodes. The first unit we made was with the help of John Bottjer who brought us the original idea of a high frequency desiccator to compete with the Birtcher product that had been acquired by Conmed Corporation. Their unit at the time was the 796, and since we designed a better product we needed a larger number. We welcomed into the world the Aaron 800, and life was good. Shortly after that we acquired Bovie® from Maxxim and have added a host of generators over the years. Some of them are the Aaron 1250 which meant 120 watts of cut, the 2250 for 200 watts and naturally the 3250 for 300 watts. We actually make a 400 watt unit for some specific international markets under the Bovie label which follows a slightly different format, but you can bet that 400 is in the equation.
Granted this may not be the equivalent of the theory of relativity, but at least I understand this theory.
Feel free to comment below, or reach out if you have any additional questions!
J. Robert Saron
President, Bovie Medical Corporation
Image: jiggoja / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Bovie Medical Corporation is far and away the largest producer of battery operated cauteries in the world. We have discussed, in past blogs, that a cautery is thermal, and an electrosurgical generator does not use heat to cause its effect. Though our current cauteries incorporate many safety features, our new cautery has a patent pending on an unique safety design.
I can’t tell you how many cauteries we make in a year, but it is a bunch. We print a warning on the cautery body, on the cover cap in red so it stands out, on the peel pouch, in thirteen languages on the instruction sheet, and again with a neon label on the top of the box with safe disposal instructions. When you push the activation button on the cautery after removing the cover cap, the high temperature model reaches over two thousand degrees almost instantly. (I once saw a doctor at a trade show touch the tip on purpose, while seeing it glow…let’s see four years of college, a high enough GPA to get into medical school and not enough common sense to know what he was getting ready to do was not a good idea).
Safe Disposal
Our warning label, among other things, talks about the safe disposal of the battery operated cautery. The safest way on our current device is to break off the tip with a hemostat (you can easily do it with your fingers, but if you push the button inadvertently, it’s going to hurt) and replace the cover cap. The product can then be safely disposed. If those two steps are followed, the odds of a trash can fire is completely eliminated. Unfortunately, despite seeing the glow of the tip, on rare occasions this procedure is not followed and the product is disposed of with all of the paper products in the trash can. If there is enough weight on the button to depress it, two thousand degrees and paper is not a good combination in a trash can. On top of that, some people want to recycle the batteries, but that takes a fight because the molded body doesn’t want to easily give up its contents.
Innovation
Meet two of our engineers, Alex Reznik and Fred Baron, our Engineering Manager (Fred is our oldest employee at 79. When we bought Fred’s machine shop 15 years ago and he was going to retire. Well, 15 years later, that retirement keeps on being pushed out a little longer... maybe a future blog will be about Fred). Alex and Fred tackled the two problems mentioned above. The end result is wonderful!
For safety precautions, we still want users to break off the tip, but this time if they forget, the odds of the cautery activating accidentally is nearly impossible. The new cautery design also allows for the batteries to be removed by snapping off the rear of the cautery quite easily. Two problems solved and we hope to file our 510k this month so we can start shipping the product. We sent our first production run out to our customers with a "not for human use" imprint, but for show and tell.
The first of the new cautery design was placed in doctors hands, and their feedback helped make some subtle changes to the planned design. While at Bovie we continue to advance some very technical products. However, we continue to improve any of our products, when necessary, or if a potential problem is discovered.
Be on the lookout for the “new” battery operated cautery from Bovie Medical Corporation. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions, or leave a comment below.
J. Robert Saron
President, Bovie Medical Corporation
Image: scottchan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Whether you are putting together an operating room for the first time, or upgrading one that you already use, there is a variety of equipment that you need to get your hands on. In addition to the larger, standard equipment, such as anesthesia equipment, surgery tables and electrosurgery generators, there are many electrosurgery accessories that you may want to consider purchasing. But let’s sick with equipment right now. Remember to always look for top-quality electrosurgical equipment to make your OR safe and effective.
Electrosurgery Generators
An electrosurgery generator is the work horse of your operating room. It is estimated that 80% if all surgeries are accomplished using this device. Today more and more operating rooms depend on vessel sealing devices. While wonderful pieces of equipment, you need to ask yourself if you really need this very expensive equipment in every suite?
Big Savings Ahead
With a little planning and with attention given to what types of surgeries are planned for this facility, you may find that you can easily save $20,000 per operating room, just by deciding how many vessel sealing units you really need. Even if you err on the high side, big savings are possible. Do you really need one in every OR? The answer almost always is absolutely not!
Smoke Evacuators
Electrosurgery remains one of the safest ways to perform minor and major operations. Bovie’s Smoke Shark™ is designed to be easy to use and extremely effective at smoke and particle removal at the operative sight. While designed for use with all electrosurgical generators, it is also excellent for use in controlling laser smoke.
Electrodes
Of all the minor electrosurgery accessories, electrodes are the most necessary. You will need electrodes for any kind of electrosurgery you perform. Depending on the specifics of the procedure, ball, blade, needle or loop electrodes will be used. Look for a manufacturer that offers a package with all four kinds at a minimum. Also look for electrodes that are coated with PTFE, like the Resistick brand, which allows them to move smoothly through tissue while resisting eschar buildup.
No matter what electrosurgery accessories you decide to purchase, Bovie is a trusted manufacturer that has the best interests of your electrosurgical center in mind. Remember, when you ask for a Bovie®, make sure you get the real thing. Download a free eBook on Understanding Electrosurgery for more information.
Image: taoty / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The Bovie brand of LLETZ or LEEP electrodes are absolutely the best product for OBGYNs who use electrosurgery during their procedures. Bovie’s loop electrodes are over engineered, over tested, and made in the USA at our facility in Florida. Here are four things you should know about Bovie’s loop electrodes:
Double Insulation
The stainless steel base with the tungsten loop are double insulated for guaranteed safety. Even though they are double insulated, we still run each and every loop electrode through a hi-pot test, at double the old AAMI/ANSI standard of 1500 volts for 60 seconds. Meaning, that Bovie tests all of our loop electrodes at 3000 volts for 60 seconds. In the unlikely event of a failure, the loop is destroyed if it does not pass this test.
Patented Protective Tray
When the loop electrode passes this heightened test, it is then fitted with a patented protective tray that is only offered by Bovie Medical . This tray guarantees that the loop stays in the optimal shape until is is used.
Additional Ribs
The second important feature consumers need to be aware of, pertains to part of the double insulation process: ribs. Bovie Medical added ribs to make it easier for doctors to both insert and remove electrodes from their electrosurgical pencils. This additional feature makes Bovie’s loop electrodes easy to use.
Variety of Sizes
Bovie Medical offers more loop electrode sizes than anyone else in the business. Why? So that doctors always have exactly what they need.
Pricing
Pricing is the final surprise. With all of the extra steps that Bovie puts into their loop electrodes you would think that it would cause these electrodes to be more costly. But, think again! Bovie’s loop electrodes are, in fact, very competitively priced and readily available through our authorized distributors worldwide.
If we put this much work into a loop electrode, can you imagine how much we have put inside our Aaron 1250, our most popular electrosurgical generator for the LLETZ procedure? More on that in the next edition…
Let me leave you with one last thought: Why do I think that Bovie Medical makes a better LLETZ electrode than others in our industry?
At a trade-show, in the not too distant past, one of our competitors left a bunch of their loop samples and departed the show early. When the show closed, I gathered up their electrodes, still in the sterile packaging, and gave them to our senior engineer. I asked him to run our test on them, to see what percentage passed. The test results showed that every single one of the competitors LLETZ loop electrodes failed the same test that every single one of our loop electrodes must pass.
Feel free to reach out, or leave a comment below with any additional question or concerns.
J. Robert Saron
President, Bovie Medical Corporation