Medical Equipment Glossary

The surgical use of high-frequency electric current for cutting or destroying tissue, as in cauterization.

Electrosurgery is performed using an electrosurgery unit / electrosurgical generator (also referred to as power supply or waveform generator) and a handpiece including one or several electrodes, sometimes referred to as an RF Knife. The apparatus when used for coagulation in surgery is still often referred to informally by surgeons as a "Bovie," after the inventor.