Surgical smoke, also known as surgical plume, is a by-product from the use of any heat generating instruments when cutting, vaporizing, or coagulating tissue during surgical procedures.
This heat causes cell membranes to heat and rupture, releasing cellular debris alongside water vapor. Surgical smoke is composed of 95% water with the remaining 5% contains by products of combustion and cellular debris, including chemicals, blood and tissue particles, bacteria, and viruses. These by-products from surgical smoke have been shown to exhibit potential health risks for surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, and technicians in the operation room due to long term exposure of smoke1).
Today it is also well-recognised that surgical smoke is comparable with cigarette smoke. Researchers have found the amount of surgical smoke produced daily in a plastic surgery operating theater was equivalent to inhaling smoke from 27 to 30 unfiltered cigarettes2). Furthermore, surgical smoke can contain more than 150 hazardous chemicals, whereas 40 of these are carcinogenic such as benzene, hydrogen cyanide, and formaldehyde3).
One day’s exposure to surgical smoke is equivalent to smoking 27 to 30 unfiltered cigarettes
hazardous chemicals are found in surgical smoke, including benzene and formaldehyde
perioperative nurses have twice the incidence of many respiratory problems as compared to the general population
Sources: 1. Liu Y, Song Y, Hu X, Yan L, Zhu X (2019). “Awareness of surgical smoke hazards and enhancement of surgical smoke prevention among the gynecologists”. Journal of Cancer. 10 (12): 2788–2799. doi:10.7150/jca.31464. PMC 6584931. PMID 31258787. 2. Hill DS, O’Neill JK, Powell RJ, Oliver DW. Surgical smoke – a health hazard in the operating theatre: a study to quantify exposure and a survey of the use of smoke extractor systems in UK plastic surgery units. J Plast Reconstr Aesthet Surg. 2012;65(7):911-916. 3. Barrett WL, Garber SM. Surgical Smoke: A review of the literature. Is this just a lot of hot air? Surg Endosc. 2003;17(6):979-87 4. Rioux et al. Journal of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery 2013, 42:54 – http://www.journalotohns.com/content/42/1/54. 5. Ball K. Compliance with surgical smoke evacuation guidelines: implications for practice. ORNAC J.2012;30(1):14-16. [IIIB]