Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons produced by electrocautery smoke and the use of personal protective equipment 1.

Objective: analyze the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in electrocautery smoke in operating rooms and the use of personal protective equipment by the intraoperative team when exposed to hydrocarbons.

Method: exploratory and cross-sectional field research conducted in a surgery center. Gases were collected by a vacuum suction pump from a sample of 50 abdominal surgeries in which an electrocautery was used.

[Composition of the electrocautery smoke: integrative literature review].

Objective: To identify the composition of the smoke produced by electrocautery use during surgery.

Method: Integrative review with search for primary studies conducted in the databases of the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, and Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences, covering the studies published between 2004 and 2014.

Results: The final sample consisted of 14 studies grouped into three categories, namely; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, volatile compounds and volatile organic compounds.