Surgical / Economic Effect of the Aquamantys System in Blood Management for Aseptic and Septic Revision TKA

The use of the saline-coupled bipolar sealing technology (Aquamantys® System, Medtronic Advanced Energy, LLC, Portsmouth, NH, USA) uses bipolar radiofrequency energy combined with a continuous-flow saline at the electrode tip to prevent tissue temperatures from exceeding 100 °C thus minimizing tissue charring. The temperature achieved is sufficient to induce a process called Transcollation(TM) which shrinks the collagen fibers in the walls of blood vessels, effectively sealing the blood vessels up to 1mm in diameter, resulting in the reduction of bleeding from soft tissue.