Surgery – Instruments – Light application
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-06
2001-07-03
Peffley, Michael (Department: 3739)
Surgery
Instruments
Light application
C604S035000, C606S010000, C607S089000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06254597
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical apparatus and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for cutting and removing soft tissue by aspiration.
2. Description of Related Art
Turning to
FIG. 1
, a prior art optical cutter includes a fiber guide tube
5
, a water line
7
, an air line
9
, and an air knife line
11
for supplying pressurized air. A cap
15
fits onto the hand-held apparatus
13
and is secured via threads
17
. The fiber guide tube
5
abuts within a cylindrical metal piece
19
. Another cylindrical metal piece
21
is a part of the cap
15
. The pressurized air from the air knife line
11
surrounds and cools the laser as the laser bridges the gap between the two metal cylindrical objects
19
and
21
. Air from the air knife line
11
flows out of the two exhausts
25
and
27
after cooling the interface between elements
19
and
21
.
The laser energy exits from the fiber guide tube
23
and is applied to a target surface of the patient. Water from the water line
7
and pressurized air from the air line
9
are forced into the mixing chamber
29
. The air and water mixture is very turbulent in the mixing chamber
29
, and exits this chamber through a mesh screen with small holes
31
. The air and water mixture travels along the outside of the fiber guide tube
23
, and then leaves the tube and contacts the area of surgery.
Other prior art devices include optical cutting systems utilizing the expansion of water to destroy and remove tooth material, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,199,870 to Steiner et al. This prior art approach requires a film of liquid having a thickness of between 10 and 200 &mgr;m. U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,856 to Wolbarsht et al. discloses a cutting apparatus that requires water to be inserted into pores of a material and then irradiated with laser energy. In both patents the precision and accuracy of the cut is highly dependent upon the precision and accuracy of the water film on the material or the water within the pores.
Devices have existed in the prior art for utilizing laser energy to perform liposuction and body contouring procedures, wherein laser energy facilites the separating of soft tissue from a patient in vivo. U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,027 to Dressel discloses a tissue remover that utilizes laser energy from a Nd:YAG to separate tissue held within a cannula, the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Use of the Nd:YAG laser for in vivo tissue removal is in some ways inefficient, since the energy from the Nd:YAG laser is not highly absorbed by water. Further, the Nd:YAG laser and other lasers, such as an Er:YAG laser, use thermal heating as the cutting mechanism. Adjacent tissue can be charred or thermally damaged and, further, noxious and potentially toxic smoke can be generated during the thermal cutting operations performed by these prior-art devices.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention discloses an electromagnetically induced mechanical cutting mechanism, which can provide accurate cutting operations on hard and soft tissues, and other materials as well. Soft tissues may include fat, skin, mucosa, gingiva, muscle, heart, liver, kidney, brain, eye, and vessels, and hard tissue may include tooth enamel, tooth dentin, tooth cementum, tooth decay, amalgam, coposites materials, tarter and calculus, bone and cartilage.
The electromagnetically induced cutter is capable of providing extremely fine and smooth incisions, irrespective of the cutting surface. Additionally, a user programmable combination of atomized particles allows for user control of various cutting parameters. The various cutting parameters may also be controlled by changing spray nozzles and electromagnetic energy source parameters. Applications for the present invention include medical, such as liposuction and dental, and other environments where an objective is to precisely remove surface materials without inducing thermal damage, uncontrolled cutting parameters, and/or rough surfaces inappropriate for ideal bonding. The present invention further does not require any films of water or any particularly porous surfaces to obtain very accurate and controlled cutting. Since thermal heating is not used as the cutting mechanism, thermal damage does not occur. Adjacent tissue is not charred or thermally damaged and, further, noxious and potentially toxic smoke is attenuated or completely eliminated.
The electromagnetically induced mechanical cutter of the present invention includes an electromagnetic energy source, which focuses electromagnetic energy into a volume of air adjacent to a target surface. The target surface may comprise fatty tissue within a cannula, for example. A user input device specifies a type of cut to be performed, and an atomizer responsive to the user input device places a combination of atomized fluid particles into the volume of air. The electromagnetic energy is focused into the volume of air, and the wavelength of the electromagnetic energy is selected to be substantially absorbed by the atomized fluid particles in the volume of air. Upon absorption of the electromagnetic energy the atomized fluid particles expand and impart mechanical cutting forces onto the target surface.
The invention, together with additional features and advantages thereof may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying illustrative drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4931047 (1990-06-01), Broadwin et al.
patent: 4985027 (1991-01-01), Dressel
patent: 5263950 (1993-11-01), L'Esperance, Jr.
patent: 5741247 (1998-04-01), Rizoiu et al.
patent: 5785521 (1998-07-01), Rizoiu et al.
Kimmel Andrew I.
Rizoiu Ioana M.
BioLase Technology, Inc.
Guy Nick
Peffley Michael
Stout, Uxa Buyan & Mullins, LLP
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