Patents Examined by Daniel M. Ruddy
  • Patent number: 6443947
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for causing necrosis of tissue and specifically intended for thermal ablation of the uterine cavity to cauterizing the endometrial tissue. The apparatus includes a liquid-tight, liquid filled system having a distal flexible member; a proximal flexible member; and a catheter joining and providing a liquid path between these distal and proximal members. The apparatus further includes a pressurizable pneumatic chamber into which the proximal flexible member is inserted and a means to controllably heat the contents of the pneumatic chamber. The system operates to: first withdraw substantially all of the liquid into the proximal flexible member contained within the pressurizable pneumatic chamber; second to heat this liquid to a temperature such that it can cause tissue necrosis; and third to force the heated liquid from the proximal flexible member into the distal flexible member where it is maintained for a predetermined time and at a predetermined pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2002
    Inventors: Alexei Marko, Ian McDougall, Douglass Yackel, Monty Bruce
  • Patent number: 6398781
    Abstract: An electrosurgery system has an electrosurgical generator operable to generate electrosurgical power at a frequency in the UHF band (typically 2.45 GHz), a feed structure, and an electrode assembly for delivering the electrosurgical power to tissue to be cut. The electrode assembly has an elongate active electrode which, at the operating frequency, is &lgr;/8 in length (&lgr; being the wavelength in air) and has an active surface area of less than 30 square millimeters. A return electrode set back proximally from the active electrode is arranged so as to be capacitively coupled to tissue adjacent the active electrode and is isolated from the feed structure in respect of unbalanced currents. Tissue cutting occurs due to thermal dissipation of UHF power in the tissue substantially without arcing, resulting from the lossy dielectric behavior of the tissue.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2000
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2002
    Assignee: Gyrus Medical Limited
    Inventors: Colin C. O. Goble, Francis E Amoah, Nigel M Goble
  • Patent number: 6298256
    Abstract: A device for the location and catheterization of the surrounding area of a nerve of a human or animal body, including a catheter and an electrically conducting puncture needle with proximal and distal ends, which puncture needle forms a continuous lumen with its proximal and distal end open and having an inside diameter which at least corresponds to the outside diameter of the catheter and which, in the region of its proximal end, is equipped with an electrical connecting part for the connection of the puncture needle to an electrical voltage source. At the proximal end, a connecting element with a through-hole communicating with the lumen is provided, onto which an injection tube for the introduction of a liquid through the through-hole into the lumen of the puncture needle is connected, and through the through-hole of which the catheter can be pushed forward into the lumen of the puncture needle all the way to the distal end thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 1999
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2001
    Inventor: Frank-Egbert Meyer
  • Patent number: 6270496
    Abstract: A catheter has a stylet formed of a shape-retentive and resilient material having a preformed curved shape at its distal end resulting in the catheter sheath having the preformed curved shape. The catheter sheath has a plurality of electrodes at its distal end for contacting selected biological tissue for imparting ablation energy thereto. The catheter sheath also has an axially mounted tendon for causing deflection of the distal end. The stylet material permits straightening the catheter sheath during insertion into the patient and advancing the electrodes to the target tissue. Upon removal of the straightening forces, such as by entry into a chamber of the heart, the stylet material resumes its preformed curved distal shape thereby forcing the catheter distal end with the electrodes into the same preformed curved shape.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 1, 2000
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2001
    Assignee: Cardiac Pacemakers, Inc.
    Inventors: Wade A. Bowe, Robert C. Hayzelden, John A. Simpson