The interaction of electrosurgical bipolar forceps and generators on an animal model of fallopian tube sterilization.

Electrosurgical tubal sterilization with bipolar forceps has shown a variable and, in certain studies, a high failure rate. Some physicians have questioned if failure rates are due to an incompatibility between bipolar forceps and bipolar generators of different manufacturers. This manuscript presents data on tissue desiccations performed on a rat uterine horn model that uses two bipolar forceps of quite different designs and two popular bipolar generators. The data demonstrate that if an appropriate amount of energy, between 100 and 117 J, is applied to the tissue, consistent destruction occurs, regardless of the generator-forceps combination used. Histologic examination of the desiccated uterine horns displayed complete occlusion of all samples 8 weeks after the procedure. However, immediately and at 3 weeks after the procedure patent uterine horns were found. In the patent samples most samples displayed considerable electrosurgical damage.