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 configured to connect to said blade,wherein said source of pulsed electrical energy is configured to apply a plurality of bursts of pulses separated by a burst interval of greater than about 1 ms during which no pulses are present and wherein the duration of the burst of pulses is 1 ms or less;
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.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
-
Citations
29 Claims
-
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 configured to connect to said blade, wherein said source of pulsed electrical energy is configured to apply a plurality of bursts of pulses separated by a burst interval of greater than about 1 ms during which no pulses are present and wherein the duration of the burst of pulses is 1 ms or less; 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. An electrosurgical cutting system, comprising:
-
an electrically conductive blade having a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface, and an edge where the first and second surfaces meet, wherein a predetermined length of the edge is a cutting portion for cutting biological tissue; a first insulated region on said first surface; a second insulated region on said second surface; and a source of pulsed electrical energy electrically connected to said blade, wherein said source of pulsed electrical energy is configured to apply a plurality of bursts of pulses separated by a burst interval of greater than about 1 ms during which no pulses are present, and wherein the duration of the burst of pulses is 1 ms or less. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29)
-
Specification