A medical procedure or surgical technique in which heated steam or vapor is used to burn or destroy diseased tissue.
From Greek atmis (vapor) + cautery (burning/cauterization), essentially the same as atmocausis but using the more common 'cautery' terminology. Emerged in 19th-century medicine.
Atmocautery represents the Victorian obsession with steam power applied to medicine—they had steam-powered everything, so why not medical procedures? It actually worked better than plain heat in some cases!
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