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Multiple Choice

Electrocautery uses an electric current to destroy tissue.

Main concept: tissue destruction by heat produced from electrical current. Electrocautery delivers an electrical current to the tissue, and the tissue’s resistance turns that current into heat. That heat denatures proteins and causes cell death, allowing the tissue to be cut or coagulated while helping to stop bleeding. This mechanism is different from other common methods: cryosurgery uses freezing to destroy tissue, incision and drainage mechanically opens and drains an abscess, and suturing simply closes a wound with stitches. So, using electric current to generate heat that destroys tissue is the correct idea.

Main concept: tissue destruction by heat produced from electrical current. Electrocautery delivers an electrical current to the tissue, and the tissue’s resistance turns that current into heat. That heat denatures proteins and causes cell death, allowing the tissue to be cut or coagulated while helping to stop bleeding. This mechanism is different from other common methods: cryosurgery uses freezing to destroy tissue, incision and drainage mechanically opens and drains an abscess, and suturing simply closes a wound with stitches. So, using electric current to generate heat that destroys tissue is the correct idea.