[54] NON-STICKING ELECTROCAUTERY SYSTEM AND FORCEPS
[76] Inventor: David C. Auth, 4739 Somerset Ave.
Southeast, Bellevue, Wash. 98006
[21] Appl. No.: 419,400
[22] Filed: Sep. 17,1982
[51] Int. C1.3 A61B 17/39
[52] U.S. CI 128/303.17
[58] Field of Search 128/303.13, 303.17,
128/303.18
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
3,685,518 8/1972 Beuerle et al 128/303.17
3,707,149 12/1972 Hao et al 128/303.17 X
3,875,945 4/1975 Friedmen 128/303.17
3,902,494 9/1975 Haberlenetal 128/303.17
3,911,241 10/1975 Jarrard 128/303.17
4,074,718 2/1978 Morrison, Jr 128/303.14
4,274,413 6/1981 Hahn et al 128/303.17
FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
2315286 1/1977 France 128/303.17
Primary Examiner—Lee S. Cohen
A non-sticking electrocautery system having bipolar electrocautery forceps connected to an RF signal generator. The forceps includes a pair of electrically conductive arms movable toward and away from each other. The arms terminate in respective jaws which are adapted to grasp tissue to be cauterized. The arms have a thermal conductivity sufficiently high to remove heat from the jaws at a rapid rate. As a result, the surfaces of the jaws that are in contact with the tissue are maintained at a temperature sufficiently low to prevent the tissue from sticking to the jaws. The forceps also include an insulating stop for preventing the jaws from contacting each other. The forceps also include an internal switch which causes the RF signal generator to apply RF power to the forceps when the arms of the forceps are closed. The RF signal from the signal generator has a relatively low voltage so that sparking does not occur from the jaws to either each other or to the tissue. Additionally, the signal generator has an output impedance that delivers a relatively constant power to the tissue as the impedance of the tissue varies.
10 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures
