Electro-surgical tissue removal

Abstract

The invention features a bipolar electro-surgical apparatus having a first electrode that has a relatively large surface area for creating a diffuse current sufficient to heat a region of tissue to coagulation temperatures and a second electrode that has a relatively small surface area for creating a concentrated current region sufficient to heat tissue adjacent to the second electrode to resection temperatures. The first and second electrodes are relatively positioned along a treatment path, such that tissue is coagulated and resected as the electro-surgical apparatus is disposed along the path. The invention also features a method for bipolar electro-surgical tissue removal including positioning a pair of bipolar electrodes along a treatment path, flushing the treatment path with an ionic fluid, and imposing a voltage differential to cause current to flow through tissue between the electrodes, where the current flowing through the tissue is sufficient to heat and cause coagulation of the tissue. The invention also features a method for bipolar electro-surgical tissue removal including attaching a power connector adaptor to a resectoscope that is configured for use with a monopolar electro-surgical device and inserting a bipolar electro-surgical device having bipolar electrodes into a working channel of the resectoscope, where the bipolar electro-surgical device is sized to fit within the working channel. The method further including electrically coupling the bipolar electrodes to the power connector adaptor.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.