Abstract: A surgical instrument includes an elongated shaft, with components arranged in the shaft. The elongated shaft is slightly curved. Arranged on a proximal end of the surgical instrument is an actuation device in the form of a lever mechanism and rotary knob. A force transmission element in the form of a plastic hollow section is arranged in the shaft. The force transmission element is a plastic section designed for transmitting compressive and tensile forces. The plastic section is provided with a plurality of longitudinally extending channels. Therefore, the plastic section does not only serve as a force transmission element, but electric lines and a pull-push shaft may additionally extend in the channels. The longitudinal channels may be used for supplying cooling media for the electrodes or the thermo-fusion device or for feeding agents promoting wound repair. The plastic section is electrically insulating, so that the risk of short-circuits is reduced.

Abstract: A catheter that distributes bipolar radiofrequency for use during the percutaneous ablation of cardiac arrhythmias. The catheter comprising a flexible sheath, a handle, a pull-wire, holes for irrigation in its distal tip, sensing means and electrodes.

Abstract: A moxibustion device includes a handle, a moxa stick clamping unit, a front fixing component, a front rolling ring, a front roller cover, a traditional Chinese medicine (moxa stick), a back roller cover, a back bearing, a back fixing component, a roller's inner screen and a rotary drum. The moxibustion device is of a more ergonomic design and allows for more accurate and more direct application of force and/or rolling on acupuncture points; it is applicable to the parts of body with a small bending scope such as joints of the limbs and cervical vertebra and large-area skin such as the waist and the back. It can be easily operated, and the acupuncture points and the main and collateral channels can be acutely located.

Abstract: An ablation device includes an antenna assembly having a radiating portion configured to deliver energy from a power source to tissue. The radiating portion has an outer conductor and an inner conductor. The inner conductor is disposed within the outer conductor. The device also includes an imaging device operably coupled to the radiating portion. The imaging device is configured to generate imaging data corresponding to tissue proximate the radiating portion of the antenna assembly.

Abstract: A catheter particularly useful for ablation lesions within a tubular region of or near the heart is provided. The catheter comprises an elongated flexible tubular catheter body having an axis and proximal and distal ends. An ablation assembly is mounted at the distal end of the tubular body. The ablation assembly has a preformed generally circular curve having an outer surface and being generally transverse to the axis of the catheter body. The ablation assembly comprises a flexible tubing having proximal and distal ends that carries a tip electrode at its distal end. An electrode lead wire extends through the catheter body and into the ablation assembly and has a distal end connected to the tip electrode. In use the distal end of the catheter is interested into the heart of a patient.

Abstract: A method of performing an ablation procedure includes the steps of inserting an antenna assembly into tissue and supplying energy thereto for application to tissue. The method also includes the step of causing contact between a first material and at least one other material disposed within the antenna assembly to thermally regulate the antenna assembly. According to another embodiment, an ablation system includes an energy delivery assembly. A first chamber is defined within the energy delivery assembly and is configured to hold a first chemical. Another chamber is defined within the energy delivery assembly and is configured to hold at least one other chemical. The first chamber and the other chamber are configured to selectively and fluidly communicate with each other to cause contact between the first chemical and the at least one other chemical to cause an endothermic reaction and/or an exothermic reaction.

Abstract: A disposable cautery device and related methods for making and disassembling a disposable cautery device are disclosed. In one embodiment, the disposable cautery device comprises a housing having a first end and a second end. A cautery tip extends from the housing first end, and the housing second end is configured to receive a removable power source. An actuator is provided to selectively complete an electrical connection between the cautery tip and the removable power source. The actuator is disposed within a recess formed in the housing, and the recess is at least partially circumscribed by a raised rim. A top surface of the actuator is flush with or lower than the rim to inhibit inadvertent actuation of the disposable cautery device. In some embodiments, an end cap is coupled with the second end of the housing to retain the removable power source in the housing, and removal of the end cap from the housing causes the coupling between the end cap and the housing to fracture.

Abstract: An end-effector assembly includes first and second jaw members disposed in opposing relation relative to one another, at least one of the jaw members moveable from an open position to a closed position for grasping tissue therebetween. First and second conductive plates are disposed on opposing surfaces of corresponding first and second jaw members. First and second compressible membranes are configured to electrically connect corresponding first and second conductive plates to a surgical field when subjected to a compression bias.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for use in performing ablation or coagulation of organs and other tissue includes a metallized fabric electrode array which is substantially absorbent and/or permeable to moisture and gases such as steam and conformable to the body cavity. Following placement of the ablation device into contact with the tissue to be ablated, an RF generator is used to deliver RF energy to the conductive regions and to thereby induce current flow from the electrodes to tissue to be ablated. As the current heats the tissue, moisture (such as steam or liquid) leaves the tissue causing the tissue to dehydrate. Suction may be applied to facilitate moisture removal. The moisture permeability and/or absorbency of the electrode carrying member allows the moisture to leave the ablation site so as to prevent the moisture from providing a path of conductivity for the current.

Abstract: An apparatus comprises a body, a shaft, an end effector, and a firing beam. The shaft extends distally from the body. The end effector is positioned at the distal end of the shaft. The end effector comprises a first jaw and a second jaw, with the first jaw being pivotable toward the second jaw. The firing beam is operable to translate relative to the end effector to thereby drive the first jaw toward the second jaw. The firing beam includes a deformable portion operable to deform in response to a stress imposed by the end effector on the firing beam as the jaws clamp on dense or thick tissue. The deformable portion is defined in part by a cutout. A compliance restriction feature restricts deformation in the firing beam. A resilient member biases the firing beam to a non-deformed configuration.

Abstract: A catheter includes an elongated body, a distal assembly with a shape-memory member defining a generally circular form, and a control handle adapted to actuate a deflection puller wire for deflecting a portion of the elongated body, and a contraction wire for contracting the generally circular form. The generally circular form which carries at least one ring electrode has an off-edge configuration relative to the elongated body such that a longitudinal axis of the elongated body does not intersect the circumference of the circular form and the generally circular form spirals about the longitudinal axis of the elongated body. Moreover, the circular form can have an on-axis configuration such that the longitudinal axis of the elongated body is axially aligned with a central longitudinal axis of the circular form, or an off-axis configuration such that these axes are axially offset from each other.

Abstract: The present invention provides systems, methods, and devices for electroporation-based therapies (EBTs). Embodiments provide patient-specific treatment protocols derived by the numerical modeling of 3D reconstructions of target tissue from images taken of the tissue, and optionally accounting for one or more of physical constraints or dynamic tissue properties. The present invention further relates to systems, methods, and devices for delivering bipolar electric pulses for irreversible electroporation exhibiting reduced or no damage to tissue typically associated with an EBT-induced excessive charge delivered to the tissue.

Abstract: Electrosurgical fibroid ablation systems and methods utilize a probe having at least two electrodes to perform bipolar ablation. The probe is inserted into a uterine fibroid so as to enter the fibroid along the major-axis direction of an ellipsoidal fibroid (a direction that is substantially parallel to the uterine wall). Inserting the probe in this direction facilitates ablation of the fibroid with a single probe penetration because the area of ablation tends to progress within a volume having an ellipsoidal shape that is aligned with the ellipsoidal shape of the fibroid. Furthermore, any scar left by the procedure tends to extend in a direction that is parallel to the uterine wall, and thus is less likely to propagate and cause rupture of the uterine wall during pregnancy.

Abstract: A device for producing anastomoses between first and second hollow organs, each having inner and outer surfaces. The device comprises a sleeve with an electrode arrangement, over which the first hollow organ is placed such that its inner surface comes to lie on a outermost surface of the sleeve, and an outer electrode arrangement, which can be brought into electrical contact with the opposing electrode arrangement carrying the second hollow organ, which is pushed over the first hollow organ. The outer electrode arrangement comprises a plurality of lamellae, configured and arranged such that, in a closed state, the lamellae form a through aperture and the inner edges of the lamellae lie against the second hollow organ and, in an open state, a gap is formed between the lamellae through which the hollow organs connected to one another can be guided outwardly out of the through aperture.

Abstract: Embodiments of the disclosed technology provide systems, devices, and methods of creating an electrosurgical tissue seal that is augmented with a seal-enhancing composition. One embodiment of a device includes a set of opposing electrosurgical jaws configured to be able to close on a targeted tissue-sealing site; the jaws have a reservoir configured to hold a tissue seal-enhancing composition. The reservoir is in communication with a surface of the tissue-sealing site when the jaws are closed on the site, and the electrosurgical device is configured to deliver the tissue seal-enhancing composition to the site during an electrosurgical procedure. The device is further configured to deliver sufficient radiofrequency energy to the site such that the targeted tissue and the tissue seal-enhancing composition at the tissue-sealing site are processed to form a high integrity sealed tissue site.

Abstract: The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for preventing reuse of a surgical instrument. The single-use surgical instrument includes a housing, an electrical connector and a treatment component. Indicia may be printed on the housing, the electrical connector and/or the treatment component. A removable ink is applied to any portion of the surgical instrument in the form of indicia that is readable by a scanning device. The removable ink includes a protein-based composition that is reactivateable with a sterilization solution having an enzyme-based composition such that upon sterilization, the removable ink reacts with the sterilizing solution and becomes unreadable by the scanning device.

Abstract: A treatment system includes a power source for heat generation which outputs power for heat generation, a grasping member having a heating element which applies the power for heat generation as thermal energy to a grasped living tissue, a storage section storing a power decrease pattern which is a prediction about a change state of the power for heat generation, and a control section which performs pattern control on the power source for heat generation on the basis of the power decrease pattern acquired from the storage section.

Abstract: A microwave ablation system incorporates a microwave thermometer that couples to a microwave transmission network connecting a microwave generator to a microwave applicator to measure noise temperature. The noise temperature is processed to separate out components of the noise temperature including the noise temperature of the tissue being treated and the noise temperature of the microwave transmission network. The noise temperature may be measured by a radiometer while the microwave generator is generating the microwave signal or during a period when the microwave signal is turned off. The microwave ablation system may be configured as a modular system having one or more thermometry network modules that are connectable between a microwave applicator and a microwave generator. Alternatively, the modular system includes a microwave generator, a microwave applicator, and a microwave cable that incorporate a microwave thermometry network module.

Abstract: A coagulation forceps with a tubular shaft and with two forceps limbs and, which can both be movable or of which one is fixed, are uncovered on the gripping surfaces that face one another and serve for gripping tissue to be treated. At the distal ends, they have end surfaces, which contact a common plane, and are insulated on their outer sides that face away from one another, and provision is made for current connections for connection to a radiofrequency generator or to a current source for bipolar coagulation. Here, not only the gripping surfaces, but also the distal end surfaces of the forceps limbs and are uncovered and these uncovered end surfaces can be connected to uncovered outer surfaces of the forceps limbs and continuing said end surfaces such that tissue contacted by the two end surfaces and/or the outer surfaces can also be coagulated in a bipolar manner.

Abstract: An invasive probe includes an insertion tube containing a lumen for providing an irrigation fluid and comprising a distal portion having a plurality of perforations therethrough providing fluid communication between the lumen and an outer surface of the insertion tube. At least one helical electrode is fitted over the distal portion of the insertion tube.