 |
 |
 |
 |
Diathermy is when high frequency currents are used to heat, cut, coagulate, and destroy tissues. Diathermy Machines were used to lower blood pressure electrically before medications were available. When used surgically, they were most beneficial in the removal of cancerous cysts. Unlike the scalpel, where excessive bleeding occurred (and re-infecting good tissues with bad cancer cells) electrical cutting of tissues allowed the blood vessels to be sealed as they were cut...cysts could be cooked in a sense before removed, and all in all the procedures had an overall success rate that was higher and with a speedier recovery. Today they are replaced with lasers, and although they look straight out of Frankenstein were actually legitimate medical tools in the 1920s, even if occasionally they were pawned off by quacks ;) ...
Oudin Resonators were large Tesla Coils used to apply sparks to the skin and diffuse electricity to produce physiological effects on the body.
Click here for the Diathermy Photo Gallery
