Electrosurgical system with uniformly enhanced electric field and minimal collateral damage
First Claim
1. An electrosurgical cutting system, comprising:
- a) an electrically conductive blade, said blade having a first surface, a second surface opposite said first surface, and an edge where said first and second surfaces meet, said edge having an edge radius of curvature, wherein a predetermined length of said edge is a cutting portion for cutting biological tissue;
b) a first insulator on said first surface;
c) a second insulator on said second surface; and
d) a source of pulsed electrical energy electrically connected to said blade;
wherein said cutting portion has an in-plane radius of curvature that is at least 10 times larger than said edge radius of curvature along the entire length of said cutting portion.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed towards an electrosurgical cutting system. The system comprises an electrically conductive blade, having first and second blade surfaces. First and second insulators are affixed to the first and second blade surfaces, respectively. A blade edge, a region between the first and second blade surfaces, has an edge radius of curvature, which preferably is small. A source of pulsed electrical energy coupled to the electrically conductive blade provides a substantially uniform and highly enhanced electric field along a cutting portion of the blade edge.
The system can also be comprised of a wire electrode. Despite the fact that its field is strongly enhanced around the apex, a uniform vapor cavity is formed and then ionized using an appropriately designed burst of pulses, preferably of alternating polarity.
121 Citations
34 Claims
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1. An electrosurgical cutting system, comprising:
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a) an electrically conductive blade, said blade having a first surface, a second surface opposite said first surface, and an edge where said first and second surfaces meet, said edge having an edge radius of curvature, wherein a predetermined length of said edge is a cutting portion for cutting biological tissue;
b) a first insulator on said first surface;
c) a second insulator on said second surface; and
d) a source of pulsed electrical energy electrically connected to said blade;
wherein said cutting portion has an in-plane radius of curvature that is at least 10 times larger than said edge radius of curvature along the entire length of said cutting portion. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. A method for pulsed uniform cutting of biological tissue along a cutting zone of an electrode while immersed in a liquid medium, the method comprising:
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a) delivering a burst of electrical pulses to said electrode to form a uniform vapor layer surrounding the cutting zone of the electrode, wherein a first vapor cavity forms in a high field region of said electrode, and wherein said electrical pulses do not ionize said first vapor cavity, and wherein said burst of electrical pulses then continues to vaporize said liquid medium in regions of lower electric field until said uniform vapor layer is completely formed along the whole cutting zone before said first vapor cavity collapses; and
b) ionizing said uniform vapor layer resulting in uniform plasma-mediated discharge into said biological tissue contacting the vapor layer. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification