Method and system for programming and controlling an electrosurgical generator system

• US 20050004564A1
• Filed: 04/30/2004
• Published: 01/06/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Covidien AG (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Covidien AG (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Wham, Robert H., Sturm, Thomas A., Faulkner, William D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,012,150 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/34
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/1206 Generators therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00084 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00648 using more than one sensed parameter
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00702 Power or energy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00773 Sensed parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00779 Power or energy
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00791 Temperature
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00875 Resistance or impedance
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00892 Voltage

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed enabling configuration of a control system for an electrosurgical generator system for creating new surgical applications without changing the underlying software system. The system includes an outer loop controller for generating a control signal in accordance with at least a first subset of sensor data from at least one sensor; an inner loop controller for generating a setpoint control signal which is provided to an RF stage in accordance with at least the control signal generated by the outer loop controller and a second subset of sensor data from the at least one sensor; and a configuration controller for generating configuration data and providing first and second configuration data sets of the configuration data to the inner loop and outer loop controllers, respectively, for configuration thereof to provide a type of control selectable from a variety of types of control.

Claims

1. An electrosurgical generator system having an RF stage for outputting at least one waveform of electrosurgical energy for performing an electrosurgical procedure, the electrosurgical generator comprising:

at least one control module executable on at least one processor for controlling in combination at least one parameter of the output electrosurgical energy; and

a configuration controller for generating configuration data including configuration data for respective control modules of the at least one control module and providing the corresponding configuration data to the respective control modules for configuring the respective control modules to provide a type of control selectable from a variety of types of control.

2. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 1, wherein the electrosurgical generator system further comprises a sensor module having at least one sensor for sensing at least one of electrical and physical properties related to at least one of the output electrosurgical energy and application of the electrosurgical energy and generating sensor data corresponding to the sensing.

3. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 2, wherein the at least one sensor is selected from the group consisting of current, phase shift, voltage, power, impedance, and temperature sensors.

4. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 2, wherein the at least one control module comprises:

an outer loop controller for generating a control signal in accordance with at least a first subset of the sensor data; and

an inner loop controller for generating a setpoint control signal which is provided to the RF stage for controlling at least an amplitude of the energy output by the RF stage, wherein the setpoint control signal is generated based on at least the control signal generated by the outer loop controller and a second subset of the sensor data.

5. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 1, wherein the electrosurgical generator system further comprises a configuration sensor module having at least one sensor for sensing at least one property relating to at least one of a user action relating directly to operation of an electrosurgical instrument, and at least one of a physical or electrical property sensed in a field of the procedure, wherein the configuration sensor module generates at least one signal corresponding to the sensing.

6. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 2, wherein the electrosurgical generator system further comprises a high level RF algorithm module for generating updated configuration data for at least one of the respective control modules in response to at least one of received sensor data and time signals indicative of the amount of time lapsed during a procedure, and providing the updated configuration data to the at least one of the respective control modules for reconfiguring the respective control modules.

7. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 4,

wherein the configuration data provided to the inner loop controller includes at least one of an algorithm selected from at least a sculpted current algorithm, a sculpted voltage algorithm and a sculpted power algorithm;

pulse parameters for controlling a waveform pattern of the setpoint control signal;

a gain curve providing predetermined gain multiplier values plotted versus predetermined impedance values;

maximum limitation values for the setpoint control signal;

a control curve providing target values plotted versus impedance values;

predetermined impedance breakpoint values; and

control algorithm parameters; and

wherein the configuration data provided to the outer loop controller includes at least one of a target curve providing target values plotted versus time values;

a target slew rate for limiting the slew rate of the outer loop controller;

a time multiplier for adjusting the target curve with respect to the time values;

control algorithm parameters;

threshold range values for the control signal generated by the outer loop controller;

pulse parameters for pulsing the control signal;

an outer loop algorithm selected from at least one of a temperature algorithm, a temperature limit algorithm, and an impedance algorithm;

outer loop algorithm parameters; and

a gain curve providing predetermined gain multiplier values plotted versus predetermined impedance values.

8. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 6,

wherein the configuration data provided to the high level RF algorithm module includes at least an algorithm selection and algorithm specific data for adjusting at least one procedural algorithm.

9. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 4,

wherein the outer loop controller includes an outer loop target generator for generating an outer loop target value based on at least a time signal indicative of a time lapse during the procedure and an outer loop target curve providing target values versus time values provided via the configuration data;

and an outer loop control module performing a control algorithm for generating the control signal based on at least the outer loop target value and the first subset of sensor data; and

wherein the inner loop controller includes an inner loop target generator for generating at least one of an inner loop target value based on at least the second subset of sensor data and an inner loop target curve providing target values versus impedance values provided via the configuration data; and

an inner loop control module performing a control algorithm for generating the setpoint control signal based on at least the inner loop target value and the second subset of sensor data.

10. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 1, further comprising a waveform controller receiving configuration data from the configuration controller and controlling a waveform pattern of the electrosurgical energy generated by the RF stage.

11. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 9, wherein each of the outer loop target generator, the outer loop control module, the inner loop target generator and the inner loop control module may be configured to be bypassed.

12. A programmable electrosurgical generator system having an RF output stage for outputting at least one RF operating waveform for performing an electrosurgical procedure, the programmable electrosurgical generator comprising:

an inner loop system for changing at least one parameter of the at least one RF operating waveform;

an outer loop system for providing at least one operating command to the inner loop system; and

a configuration control system for modifying at least one of the inner and outer loop systems based on received data.

13. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 12, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of output power, output current, output voltage, and output waveform pattern.

14. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 12, further comprising a high level RF Algorithm module for programming at least one of at least one algorithm and an algorithm parameter for the at least one algorithm of at least one of the inner loop system and the outer loop system based on received sensor data from a sensor module sensing properties associated with at least one of the electrosurgical procedure and the output of at least one RF operating waveform.

15. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 12, further comprising a user interface for inputting and providing to the configuration control system programming commands for operating at least one of the inner loop system, the outer loop system and the configuration control system in accordance with the programming commands.

16. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 15, further comprising at least one memory module for storing the inputted programming commands as command files.

17. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 16, wherein each command file defines values of various parameters of an operating mode.

18. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 12, further comprising a sensor module having at least one sensor for sensing at least one of electrical and physical properties responsive to application of the electrosurgical energy and generating sensor data corresponding to the sensing;

wherein at least one of the inner loop system and the outer loop system uses the sensor data for changing and performing, respectively.

19. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 12, wherein the at least one sensor is selected from the group consisting of current, phase shift, voltage, power, impedance, and temperature sensors.

20. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 18, wherein the inner loop and outer loop systems use different subsets of the sensor data.

21. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 12, further comprising at least one processor for creating and storing a plurality of operating modes for the electrosurgical generator system.

22. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 12, wherein the configuration control system is adapted to re-program the inner and outer loop systems in virtual real-time.

23. A programmable electrosurgical generator system having an RF output stage for outputting at least one operating waveform for performing an electrosurgical procedure, said programmable electrosurgical generator comprising:

at least one processor for executing at least one of a plurality of command files, wherein each command file defines values of at least one parameter of an operating mode of the electrosurgical generator system; and

at least one input device for creating or inputting additional command files for modifying the plurality of command files by receiving input programming commands.

24. A method for programming an electrosurgical generator system having an RF output stage for outputting at least one operating waveform for performing an electrosurgical procedure, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a plurality of operating commands; and

storing at least a subset of the plurality of operating commands in at least one command file, wherein the at least a subset of the plurality of operating commands defines a value of at least one parameter of an operating mode.

25. The method as in claim 24, further comprising the step of modifying the at least one command file during an electrosurgical procedure.

26. The method as in claim 24, further comprising the step of re-programming the at least one command file at least one of prior to beginning an electrosurgical procedure and during an electrosurgical procedure.

27. The method as in claim 26, wherein the re-programming step further comprises the step of modifying the at least one command file.

28. The method as in claim 26, wherein the re-programming step further comprises the step of downloading a configuration file for re-programming the at least one command file.

29. A programmable electrosurgical generator system having an RF output stage for outputting at least one RF operating waveform for performing an electrosurgical procedure, the programmable electrosurgical generator comprising:

an inner loop system comprising means for changing at least one parameter of the at least one RF operating waveform;

an outer loop system comprising means for performing at least one operating function of the electrosurgical generator; and

a configuration control system comprising means for modifying the inner and outer loop systems based on received input data.

30. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 29, wherein the at least one parameter is selected from the group consisting of output power, output current, output voltage, and output waveform pattern.

31. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 29, wherein the at least one operating function is selected from the group consisting of receiving input information from at least one sensor, and providing at least one operating command to the means for changing the at least one parameter of the at least one operating waveform.

32. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 29, further comprising a high level RF algorithm module for programming at least one of an operating parameter and an operating of at least one of the inner loop system and the outer loop system based on received sensor data from a sensor module sensing properties associated with the electrosurgical procedure.

33. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 29, further comprising means for receiving programming commands for operating the inner loop system, the outer loop system and the configuration control system in accordance with the programming commands, and means for inputting the programming commands.

34. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 33, further comprising at least one memory module for storing the inputted programming commands as command files.

35. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 34, wherein each command file defines values of various parameters of an operating mode.

36. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 29, further comprising a sensor module having at least one sensor for sensing at least one of electrical and physical properties responsive to application of the electrosurgical energy and generating sensor data corresponding to the sensing;

wherein at least one of the means for changing of the inner loop system and the means for performing of the outer loop system uses the sensor data for changing and performing, respectively.

37. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 36, wherein the at least one sensor is selected from the group consisting of current, phase shift, voltage, power, impedance, and temperature sensors.

38. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 29, further comprising processing means for creating and storing a plurality of operating modes for the electrosurgical generator system.

39. The electrosurgical generator system as in claim 29, wherein the means for modifying is adapted to re-program the inner and outer loop systems in real-time.