THERMAL CAUTERY SURGICAL FORCEPS
A portable, thermal cauterizing forceps device for use in surgery. The device incorporates a pair of ceramic heater elements mounted within the tips of the tines of a forceps. The forceps is used to grasp tissue or blood vessels and apply heat to effect cauterization. The forceps instrument can incorporate a battery and control electronics. The thermal-forceps is of a self-contained wireless, handheld disposable design. The forceps handpiece can be connected to an external power source. The forceps can incorporate a set of rapidly heating ceramic heater elements that may be composed of silicon nitride. An LED provides the operator feedback as to the operating level of the heaters and/or battery reserve. The forceps can include a rechargeable power supply, variable control of the heater temperature, as well as a, digital display of the tip temperature.
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This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority under 35 USC 120 from U.S. application Ser. No. 13/791,156, filed Mar. 8, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/339,408, filed Dec. 29, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,409,199, issued on Apr. 2, 2013, which is a divisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 12/577,531, filed Oct. 12, 2009, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,128,623, issued on Mar. 6, 2012, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 11/512,159, filed Aug. 30, 2006, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated herein by reference. U.S. application Ser. No. 11/512,159, filed Aug. 30, 2006, is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/326,387, filed Dec. 23, 2002, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/842,140 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,533,778, issued Mar. 18, 2003), which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/235,229, filed Apr. 26, 2001 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,235,027, issued May 22, 2001).
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to a handheld, portable thermal-cauterizing forceps including an integrated thermal heating surface disposed at each tip.
There are many surgical cautery devices available for the surgeon to ablate and vaporize tissue. Hot knives and cutting coagulators have been used to make skin incisions. The cautery can also be used in surgery to aid in hemostasis or control bleeding by coagulating blood vessels. Employing various cautery modalities decreases the duration of some surgical procedures by providing the surgeon a rapid method of coagulation without the need for suture ligation of blood vessels encountered during dissection.
Typically, surgical cautery is accomplished by directing a heating process onto tissue. The heat may be generated by either a thermal or electro-surgical process. Most commonly, an electro-surgical process using a radio frequency (RF) is used. The RF units generate heat by using high frequency electrical current and the resistive nature of tissue to produce heat. This technique requires a bulky generator and heavy electrical components to operate. Typically, RF electrocautery units require a power lead cable to the electro-surgical hand instrument and a large surface area grounding pad. More often than not, radio frequency surgical units are bulky expensive units which require a cable connection. Employing RF cauterization in a surgical operation may add significant cost to the procedure because the grounding pad, cable and handpiece must all be either re-sterilized or replaced in the case of disposable use.
A less common method of generating heat for coagulation of tissue is by thermal cautery. Thermal cautery is achieved by electrical heating of a resistive-wire loop or resistible electronic part by applying an electrical voltage. The prior art describes many handheld disposable, hot-wire loop cautery instruments. These devices have severe limitations as to their scope of use in surgery. The heat generated by the handheld battery powered devices is very small with a low heat capacity. The available patented devices are effective for cauterization of only the smallest of blood vessels, such as, vessels in the sclera of the eye. These battery powered hot-wire cautery instruments are not effective for use in cauterization of larger blood vessels encountered in most surgical procedures. A technique employing the electrical over driving of a zener diodes to produce heat has also been described in several patents. This device is primarily for limited endoscopic applications.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn order to overcome the limitations and disadvantages of the prior art, the present invention provides, in an embodiment, a new and improved hand-held, high energy, portable thermal cautery forceps. More particularly, the new and improved surgical forceps instrument includes an enclosure which houses a battery and electronic control. Active ceramic heaters are provided on the two tips of the operative end of the forceps. In a second embodiment, the thermal forceps may alternatively be powered by an external power source.
The new thermo-cautery forceps device in accordance with an embodiment of the invention provides the surgeon with several significant improvements in the state of the art. A first benefit of the thermal-cautery forceps is that it is cordless and fully portable. In the first embodiment of the invention, no cables or external power supply is necessary. This keeps the operative field clear of wires and cables. The thermal cautery of this invention does not require any grounding pad or foot switches.
A second benefit is the very high heating capacity of the thermal elements of the device. Temperatures of over 1000.degree. C. are easily obtainable. This heat capacity and temperature can easily cauterize medium and large blood vessels.
A third benefit provided by the new and improved thermal cautery forceps of the invention is its ability to heat to operating temperature in a very short time period, for example, within about one second. The preferred embodiment uses silicon nitride, ceramic heater elements. These new ceramic heaters exhibit rapid heating and cooling characteristics. Silicon nitride ceramic heaters have been used successfully in other fields outside surgery. To the inventor's knowledge, this is believed to be the first use within the field of surgical thermal coagulation.
In an alternative embodiment, less expensive alumina heaters and ceramic resistors or diodes may be employed in substitution for the silicon nitride ceramic heater elements to provide cost savings. However, such alternative types of heaters may be less preferred because longer times to obtain operating temperatures may be required.
A fourth advantage provided by the new and improved forceps is the placement of the thermal cautery heater elements at the ends of forceps tines. The unique position of the ceramic heater elements allows tissue and blood vessels to be easily grasped and directly coagulated in a controlled manner. The application of a closing or gripping pressure of the forceps against the tissue or vessel enhances the effectiveness of the coagulation.
A fifth benefit of the forceps device in accordance with the invention is to decrease the cost and enhance the availability of surgical cautery. The first embodiment of the thermal forceps allows for the device to be packaged as a sterile disposable instrument. The instrument can be used in emergency or field operations. The device may be used for hemostasis during outpatient surgical procedures in clinics and in surgery centers, as well as, at emergency scenes.
Other objects and advantages provided by the present invention will become apparent from the following Detailed Description taken in conjunction with the Drawings, in which:
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, a new and improved thermocautery surgical forceps comprises a surgical forceps body including a pair of elongate tine members extending from the forceps body to respective free end tip portions spaced from the forceps body. The tine members are mounted to the forceps body in a manner providing resilient compressible movement of the tine members between a normally open position, wherein the tines are disposed in aligned, parallel, spaced-apart relationship, and a squeezed closed position, wherein the tip portions of the tine members are disposed in confronting abutting relationship. Each tine member includes a tissue contact surface defined on an inner facing surface of the tine member adjacent the tip portion. A ceramic heater element is disposed in each tine member so as to effectively heat the tissue contact surface to an elevated tissue cauterizing temperature. The ceramic heater elements are optionally connected to a power source. The tine members may be squeezed together to their squeezed closed position to grippingly, squeezably engage tissue to be cauterized between the tip portions. The tissue contact surfaces on the tines may be heated to a tissue cauterizing temperature to effectively thermocauterize the gripped tissue.
Referring now to
As shown in
Shown in
In an alternative design of the first embodiment a small piezoelectric speaker may be incorporated into the forceps enclosure. In the alternative design (not shown) the logic controller is further able to supply a piezo-electric speaker with supply voltage. The piezo-electric speaker provides the operator with auditory feedback pertaining to the operation of the instrument. The speaker emits a sound to give the surgeon an audio feedback as to the operation of the instrument. The sound indicates that the heating elements are at the normal operative temperature for effective cauterization.
Also shown in
An electrical open/close single pole switch is incorporated into the instrument. The switch is positioned within the housing enclosure between the base of the forceps tines. The switch is composed of two contacts that are brought into contact when the forceps are squeezed together. Closing the switch allows current to be delivered to the heaters. The contacts meet, as soon as, closure of the tines is begun and stays in a closed position as long as the tines are closed. Release of the forceps tines will open the switch and current supply to the heaters will terminate.
The typical wiring diagram and schematic is shown in
The second embodiment of the invention is shown in
As shown in
The foregoing discussion of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. Further, the description is not intended to limit the invention to the form disclosed herein. Consequently, variations and modification commensurate with the above teachings, and the skill or knowledge in the relevant art, are within the scope of the present invention. The embodiments described herein above are further intended to explain modes known of practicing the invention and to enable others skilled in the art to utilize the invention in such, or other embodiments and with various modification required by their particular applications or uses of the invention. It is intended that the appended claim be construed to include alternative embodiments to the extent permitted by the prior art.
Claims
1. (canceled)
2. A thermocautery surgical forceps, comprising:
- a surgical forceps body including a pair of elongate tine members extending from the forceps body to respective opposed free end tip portions spaced from the forceps body, the tine members being mounted to the forceps body in a manner providing resilient compressible movement of the tine members between a normally open position wherein the tine members are disposed in an aligned and spaced-open relationship and a squeezed closed position wherein the tip portions of the tine members are disposed in a confronting abutting relationship;
- power source leads configured to be electrically connectable to a power supply, at least one of said tip portions of the tine members comprising a heater element connected to the power source leads and said heater element having a flat, gripping and heating surface defined on an inner facing surface of said at least one of said tip portions; and
- a circuit board configured to supply a high initial current to the heater element for rapid heat and to supply a reduced current to said heater element for maintenance of the heat,
- the tine members being further configured to be squeezed together toward the squeezed closed position to grippingly, squeezably, engage tissue to be cauterized or a blood vessel to be sealed between the flat gripping and heating surface of said heater element and the opposed tip portion.
3. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising
- an indicator configured to indicate an operative state of said heater element,
- wherein said circuit board is further configured to measure a battery power reserve or supply voltage and an internal resistance and a temperature of said heater element and to actuate said indicator to indicate whether the battery power reserve or supply voltage and the internal resistance and the temperature of said heater element falls within predetermined operational limits.
4. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising
- a switch operationally electrically connected to the heater element and the power source leads and configured to turn the heater element on to heat the flat, gripping and heating surface to an elevated tissue cauterizing or blood vessel sealing temperature as the tine members are moved from the normally open position to the squeezed closed position to apply pressure and heat to a tissue gripped between the gripping and heating surfaces.
5. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, which is sterilized and intended for one time disposable use.
6. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising a rechargeable battery connected to said power source leads.
7. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising a replaceable battery connected to said power source leads.
8. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising an external power supply connected to said power source leads.
9. The thermocautery surgical forceps according to claim 2, wherein said flat, gripping and heating surface comprises a non-stick heating surface.
10. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising a heat-resistant holster assembly configured to receive and hold the forceps body.
11. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising a battery connected to a battery capacitor with a capacitor acting as a battery which is recharged by a common battery to said power source leads.
12. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising a 110 v AC power supply connected to said power source leads.
13. The thermocautery device of claim 2, wherein said flat, gripping inner face surface comprises a non-stick heating surface.
14. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising
- a battery; and
- a voltage stepper coupled to said battery and said power source leads.
15. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, wherein the indicator comprises a piezoelectric speaker.
16. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, wherein the circuit board is further configured to vary the initial resistance of the heater circuit to obtain heat rapidly.
17. The thermocautery surgical forceps as defined in claim 2, further comprising a neoprene spacer, wherein each of said tine members of said pair of elongate tine members are fastened to opposite sides of said neoprene spacer for a spring effect.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 23, 2013
Publication Date: Feb 20, 2014
Applicant: GARRETT TECHNOLOGIES (Los Angeles, CA)
Inventor: Garrett D. Herzon (Los Angeles, CA)
Application Number: 14/061,452
International Classification: A61B 18/08 (20060101);