Vessel sealing system
AssigneeCovidien LP
InventorsRobert H. Wham, Steven P. Buysse, James H. Orszulak
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Abstract
A method for electrosurgically sealing a tissue includes steps of: (A) applying a first pulse of RF energy to the tissue; and (B) applying at least one subsequent RF energy pulse to the tissue and keeping constant or varying RF energy parameters of individual pulses of subsequent RF energy pulses in accordance with at least one characteristic of an electrical transient that occurs during the individual RF energy pulses. The method terminates the generation of the at least one subsequent RF pulse upon a determination that the electrical transient is absent.
Claims36
A method for electrosurgically sealing tissue, comprising the steps of:
- applying a first pulse of RF energy to the tissue having a duration of less than about 200 milliseconds to limit excessively heating tissue;
- measuring a value of an electrical characteristic of tissue in response to the first pulse of RF energy;
- and
- applying at least one subsequent RF energy pulse to the tissue based on the value of an electrical characteristic of tissue and regulating RF energy parameters of individual pulses of subsequent RF energy pulses in accordance with at least one characteristic of an electrical transient that occurs during at least one subsequent RF energy pulse.
A system for electrosurgically sealing tissue comprising:
- means for applying a first pulse of RF energy with a pulse duration of less than about 200 milliseconds to the tissue wherein the characteristics of the first pulse are selected as to not excessively heat the tissue;
- and
- means for applying at least one subsequent RF energy pulse to the tissue and keeping constant or varying RF energy parameters of individual pulses in accordance with at least one characteristic of an electrical transient that occurs during RF energy pulse.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.