Medical treatment system with energy delivery device for limiting reuse

A method for limiting the use of an energy delivery device having an optical fiber and a memory device wherein, said optical fiber includes a shelf life and a multiplicity of use parameters and a date of manufacture and at least one usage limit corresponding to at least one of said use parameters, said optical fiber further comprises a temperature sensor at a distal end thereof, said method comprising the steps of:

• storing said shelf life in said memory device;
• storing said use parameters and said usage limit in said memory device;
• storing said date of manufacture in said memory device;
• utilizing said date of manufacture to determine whether said shelf life has expired;
• disabling said energy delivery device when said shelf life has expired
• determining whether at least one of said use parameters exceeds its corresponding usage limit;
• generating a temperature signal using said temperature sensor;
• and utilizing said temperature signal to determine whether at least one of said use parameters exceeds its corresponding usage limit;
• and
• disabling said energy delivery device when said use parameter exceeds said usage limit.

A medical treatment system for performing a medical procedure comprising:

• an energy delivery device including an optical fiber and a memory device, said optical fiber including a temperature sensor at a distal end thereof for generating a temperature signal, said optical fiber having a multiplicity of use parameters and a count limit and at least one usage limit corresponding to at least one of said multiplicity of use parameters relating to said optical fiber, said multiplicity of use parameters and said at least one usage limit and said count limit being stored in said memory device, and said optical fiber and said memory device being connected to said energy delivery device, and wherein said multiplicity of use parameters include at least an elapsed time, a total treatment time, and a number of treatment sites;
• and
• a processor programmed to calculate a temperature from said temperature signal, and said processor also programmed to update at least one of said multiplicity of use parameters in response to data received by said processor regarding said use parameter and said processor for comparing said use parameter to its corresponding usage limit, said processor creating and incrementing a usage count when at least one of said multiplicity of use parameters exceeds its usage limit, said processor comparing said usage count to said count limit and disabling said energy delivery device when said usage count exceeds said count limit.