US 6,712,813 B2 · RF probe for electrosurgical instrument

Abstract

An electrosurgical handpiece having a removable section permanently incorporating an electrode adapted for a particular procedure. The handpiece may be labeled for that procedure or otherwise visually distinguished from other handpieces, as, for example, by shape or color-coding, and the optimum electrode for that procedure is already pre-attached to the handpiece. The handpiece comprises a common connector attached at one end to a cable terminating in an end connector for attachment to an electrosurgical instrument, and at its other end adapted to receive and hold and electrically connect to the handpiece proper itself, i.e., a handle for the surgeon to hold and the attached electrode. A family of handpieces are preferably configured to removably attach to the common connector and thus could use the same common connector and cable and end connector for connecting to the instrument as a source of RF electrosurgical currents. The shape of the handpiece can also be related to the orientation of the electrode so that the surgeon can tell by the position of the handpiece in his hand the position of the electrode at the patient's tissue.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A family of handpieces for an electrosurgical instrument comprising:

(i) each member of the family comprising:
(a) a handpiece section comprising a handle having at one end a mounting portion configured to removably engage for mounting and for electrically connecting to a complementary part of a cable-connector section, each handpiece section further comprising an electrical component functioning when activated to generate a unique control signal for the electrosurgical instrument,
(b) a non-removable electrode permanently connected to the opposite end of the handpiece section;
(ii) the electrode being differently shaped or sized in each member of the family and the electrical component of each handpiece section in each member of the family having different electrical properties such as to generate a different unique control signal,
(iii) a common cable-connector section for connection to the instrument, the common cable-connector section having at one end a receiving portion for removably receiving each of the mounting portions of each of the handpiece sections, the cable-connector section further comprising a cable and a connector for connecting to the instrument.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

RF probe for electrosurgical instrument

Life of this patent

RF probe for electrosurgical instrument

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims11