Surgery – Instruments – Electrical application
Patent
1997-09-12
2000-01-11
Cohen, Lee
Surgery
Instruments
Electrical application
606 42, 606 49, 21912148, 21912154, A61B 1739
Patent
active
06013075&
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to a medical coagulation apparatus and, more particularly, to a surgical coagulation apparatus for irradiating living tissue with an electric discharge to achieve coagulation and hemostasis.
BACKGROUND ART
Electric scalpels are employed widely as surgical devices. An electric scalpel is an instrument which, by passing a high-frequency current of from several hundred kilohertz to several megahertz at a power of several hundred watts into an electrode at the slender scalpel tip of its distal end, is used instead of a knife to make an incision and coagulate tissue. When the electric scalpel is employed for the coagulation and hemostasis of tissue, the high-frequency current is passed into the tissue, which has been contacted by the scalpel tip electrode, in concentrated fashion at a single point, whereby the protein in the tissue is coagulated and desiccated by Joule heating produced in the tissue.
Since the scalpel tip electrode is contacted with the tissue when the electric scalpel is used for coagulation and hemostasis, the coagulated tissue tends to adhere to the scalpel tip electrode and peel off, as a result of which the tissue is damaged. An electric scalpel having a spray coagulation function is available as an electric scalpel that is capable of achieving non-contact coagulation and hemostasis. By applying a high voltage (on the order of twice that applied in the ordinary electric scalpel) to electrodes, this electric scalpel coagulates tissue by irradiating the tissue with an arc discharge under conditions in which the electrodes are held several millimeters away from the tissue in air. However, since the discharge is effected in highly insulative air, control of the arc discharge is difficult, more current flows than is necessary and excessive coagulation and tissue carbonization readily occur. An argon beam coagulator has been proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 62-240043 in order to solve this problem. According to this art, an opposing electrode plate 80 is affixed to a living body 50, as shown in FIG. 6, and the living body 50 is held at the same potential as that of the opposing electrode plate 80. A pencil-shaped device 110 is then supplied with argon gas from a gas supply unit 120 and an electrode 116 provided on the pencil-shaped device 110 is supplied with high-frequency current from a control unit 130. As a result, an arc discharge is produced from the electrode 116 to the living body 50 held at the same potential as that of the opposing electrode plate 80 and argon gas ionized by the arc discharge is jetted toward the body so that a high-frequency current is introduced into the tissue in non-contacting fashion as an arc discharge in argon gas, whereby coagulation and hemostasis of the tissue are achieved. Since the ionized argon gas possesses conductivity, this method is such that a stable arc beam can be emanated toward the tissue so that uniform coagulation is possible with little energy.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
However, the above-described argon beam coagulator and, in similar fashion, the electric scalpel and spray coagulating-type electric scalpel, employ an arrangement in which current from the electrode 116 is introduced to the opposing electrode plate 80 via the living body, as illustrated in FIG. 6. As a consequence, the patient often sustains thermal burns when the devices are used, and this has a serious effect upon patients who are in a seriously weakened state after surgery. Accordingly, it is required that thermal burning be dealt with rapidly. Thermal burning mainly occurs at the location where the opposing electrode is affixed. More specifically, a generally employed opposing electrode has an area of 100.about.200 cm.sup.2. However, in situations where the area of contact is small or contact unsatisfactory, current flows into a portion of the opposing plate in concentrated fashion and thermal burning occurs at this portion. Further, attaching the opposing electrode to the patient at the time of surgery is
REFERENCES:
patent: 4839492 (1989-06-01), Bouchier et al.
patent: 4901719 (1990-02-01), Trenconsky et al.
patent: 5088997 (1992-02-01), Delahuerga et al.
Avramenko Stanislav
Stoupine Igor
Cohen Lee
Technova Incorporated
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