US 10,945,779 B2Granted

Combination ultrasonic and electrosurgical instrument having electrically insulating features

AssigneeEthicon, Inc.

InventorsWilliam B. Weisenburgh, II, Jason R. Lesko, Catherine A. Corbett, Stephen M. Leuck, Craig T. Davis

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Loading patent…

Abstract

A surgical instrument includes a shaft, an ultrasonic transducer, a waveguide, and an end effector at a distal end of the shaft. The end effector includes an ultrasonic blade acoustically coupled with the waveguide, a clamp arm movable relative to the ultrasonic blade, a first RF electrode provided by the clamp arm, and a second RF electrode provided by the ultrasonic blade. The first RF electrode is electrically coupled with a first RF electrical path of the instrument, and the second RF electrode is electrically coupled with a second RF electrical path of the instrument. The RF electrodes are operable to seal tissue with bipolar RF energy. An electrically insulative layer is provided on at least a portion of at least one of the ultrasonic blade, the waveguide, the shaft, or the clamp arm, and is configured to prevent shorting between the first and second RF electrical paths.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A surgical instrument comprising:

(a) a shaft;
(b) an ultrasonic transducer;
(c) a waveguide acoustically coupled with the ultrasonic transducer and extending distally through the shaft;
(d) an end effector arranged at a distal end of the shaft, wherein the end effector comprises:
(i) an ultrasonic blade acoustically coupled with the waveguide, wherein the ultrasonic transducer is operable to drive the waveguide and the ultrasonic blade with ultrasonic energy,
(ii) a clamp arm movable relative to the ultrasonic blade for clamping tissue therebetween,
(iii) a first RF electrode provided by the clamp arm, wherein the first RF electrode is electrically coupled with a first RF electrical path of the surgical instrument, and
(iv) a second RF electrode provided by the ultrasonic blade, wherein the second RF electrode is electrically coupled with a second RF electrical path of the surgical instrument,
wherein the first and second RF electrodes are operable to seal tissue with bipolar RF energy;
and
(e) an electrically insulative layer configured to prevent shorting between the first RF electrical path and the second RF electrical path, wherein the electrically insulative layer is provided on at least a portion of the waveguide,
wherein the ultrasonic blade extends distally from a distal-most acoustic node of the waveguide, wherein the electrically insulative layer encapsulates at least a portion of the distal-most acoustic node.

9 more elements

A surgical instrument comprising:

(a) a shaft;
(b) an ultrasonic transducer;
(c) a waveguide acoustically coupled with the ultrasonic transducer and extending distally through the shaft;
(d) an end effector arranged at a distal end of the shaft, wherein the end effector comprises:
(i) an ultrasonic blade acoustically coupled with the waveguide, wherein the ultrasonic transducer is operable to drive the waveguide and the ultrasonic blade with ultrasonic energy,
(ii) a clamp arm movable relative to the ultrasonic blade for clamping tissue therebetween,
(iii) a first RF electrode provided by the clamp arm, wherein the first RF electrode is electrically coupled with a first RF electrical path of the surgical instrument, and
(iv) a second RF electrode provided by the ultrasonic blade, wherein the second RF electrode is electrically coupled with a second RF electrical path of the surgical instrument,
wherein the first and second RF electrodes are operable to seal tissue with bipolar RF energy;
and
(e) an electrically insulative layer configured to prevent shorting between the first RF electrical path and the second RF electrical path, wherein the electrically insulative layer is provided on at least a portion of the ultrasonic blade,
wherein the ultrasonic blade extends distally from a distal-most acoustic node of the waveguide, wherein the electrically insulative layer encapsulates at least a portion of the distal-most acoustic node.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/967,747Filed 1 May 2018 · us provisional application
Priority: 22 May 2017
Published: US 2018/0333179 A122 Nov 2018
Granted: 16 Mar 2021
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification32 codes

A61B 18/00
Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to
A61B 17/320092
Using mechanical vibrations, e.g. ultrasonic: with additional movable means for clamping or cutting tissue, e.g. with a pivoting jaw
A61B 18/1206
By passing a current through the tissue to be heated, e.g. high-frequency current: generators therefor
A61B 18/1445
Probes having pivoting end effectors, e.g. forceps: at the distal end of a shaft, e.g. forceps or scissors at the end of a rigid rod

Family

Application62/509,351Us provisional application · filed 22 May 2017
US 2018/0333179 A1Pre-grant publication · published 22 Nov 2018
US 10,945,779 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

Building an agent or pulling many patents? Use the API or MCP server instead of scraping pages. Get an API key