Search

Anal fistula, characterized by abnormal tracts between the perianal skin and the anal canal, presents challenges in treatment because of its diversity and complexity. This study investigates the use of non-thermal plasma as a postsurgical therapy for anal fistula, aiming to promote healing and tissue regeneration. A specialized plasma reactor was designed to apply non-thermal plasma within the anorectal cavity practically. Non-thermal plasma treatment was administered to 20 patients including 10 undergoing fistulectomies and 10 undergoing fistulotomies. The average duration of non-thermal plasma application in the operating room was shorter for fistulotomies. The pain reported the day after surgery was similar in both groups. Improvements in the number of evacuations starting from the day after surgery, as well as the assessment of stool quality using the Bristol scale, indicated satisfactory intestinal recovery. Fistulotomy patients exhibited faster wound healing times. These findings underscore the efficacy of non-thermal plasma as a postoperative therapy for anal fistula, enhancing healing and recovery outcomes without increasing complication risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

(1) Background: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of non-thermal plasma (NTP) therapy in accelerating wound healing in patients who have undergone laparoscopic and open surgeries. (2) Methods: NTP was applied using a needle-type reactor with an irradiance of 0.5 W/cm2 on the surgical wounds of fifty patients after obtaining informed consent. Three NTP treatments, each lasting three minutes, were administered hourly. (3) Results: The pilot study showed that NTP-treated surgical wounds healed completely without any signs of infection, dehiscence, pain, or itching. Notably, patients reported minimal pain after the NTP treatment. Visual assessments conducted twenty-four hours after surgery revealed no redness or fluid discharge. Comparisons with traditionally sutured wounds indicated that NTP-treated wounds healed at a rate equivalent to seven days. (4) Conclusions: The application of NTP in laparoscopic and open wounds proved safe and effective, expediting the wound healing process and eliminating clinical risks post-surgery. Significantly, NTP facilitated a healing rate within twenty-four hours, equivalent to seven days for suture-treated wounds, significantly reducing the hospitalization time to a single day. These findings highlight the potential of NTP to be a transformative approach for promoting postoperative recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and construction of a 13.56-MHz RF power amplifier has been carried out on the basis of a modified resonant LC circuit in parallel regarding to the classic E-class amplifier LC series resonant circuit; this was done in order to take advantage of the operation characteristics of the resonant capacitor as a bidirectional voltage source. Therefore, the parallel LC circuit amplifies the voltage signals which can be applied to resistive or capacitive–resistive loads without the need for an impedance matching network, conventionally used with plasma generators. The main achievement of the described instrumentation lays in its constant response under a wide interval of load impedance. This facility has been applied to the generation of steady discharges in plasma needle appliances and both parallel plate and coaxial dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactors. Some relevant results of the DBD sterilization of four different kinds of microorganisms are included, showing the feasibility of the technique within reduced processing times, under 80 s in all the cases. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper presents a model of the typical dielectric barrier plasma discharge at atmospheric pressure, structured as an equivalent electric circuit whose elements are identified with, and deducted from, the main influential variables of the process, namely, the applied gas, the geometry of the reactor, the breakdown parameters, as well as the power supply associated to the dielectric barrier discharge cell. Considering a parallel-plate reactor and a high-voltage sinusoidal power supply, an electrical comprehensive Simulink/MATLAB model has been developed in order to reveal the interaction between these two elements. The main components of this discharge model are as follows: 1) a double dielectric capacitance; 2) a voltage-controlled current source; and 3) a gas capacitance associated to the ionized gas. A sinusoidal voltage of up to 15 kV peak to peak at frequencies of 12.5 and 47 kHz has been applied to the discharge electrodes. The electrical model is based on the power law proposed by Roth, which defines the V --I behavior during the discharge startup. A series of simulations has been carried out in order to estimate the total current and voltage consumed during each discharge and to identify those parameters which are not measurable during the process. Finally, both the experimental and simulated voltage and current results in helium, argon, and nitrogen, as well as their Q--V graphics, are shown, and a comparison between them is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]