Surgical Fire: Where, Why, and What to Do

  A surgical fire is a fire that occurs on or in a patient. It is an emergency for it can result in devastating consequences. The operating room (OR) team needs to be aware of the possibility of the same and of the protocol to be followed if an unfortunate incident does occur. The present review dis...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inIndian journal of surgery Vol. 85; no. 4; pp. 723 - 729
Main Author Tewari, Mallika
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New Delhi Springer India 01.08.2023
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Cardiac Surgery
Fires
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Neurosurgery
Pediatric Surgery
Plastic Surgery
Review Article
Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Fire triad
Prevention
Fire algorithm
Operating room fire
Fuel
Ignition
Colon fire
Surgical fire
Oxidizer
Airway fire
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:  A surgical fire is a fire that occurs on or in a patient. It is an emergency for it can result in devastating consequences. The operating room (OR) team needs to be aware of the possibility of the same and of the protocol to be followed if an unfortunate incident does occur. The present review discusses the constituents of the fire triad/triangle that are constantly present in any OR, namely the oxidizer, ignition source and the fuel, and their role in the causation of a surgical fire. Furthermore, safeguards to mitigate the risk of a surgical fire are elaborated on along with the fire algorithms on the topic. Some case examples of actual published incidents are also presented. Surgical fire is totally preventable if due care is taken and everyone in the OR team is abreast with the fire protocols.
ISSN:0972-2068
0973-9793
DOI:10.1007/s12262-022-03553-7