Other

Oximetrix, Inc.

Hemagen/pfc

Hemostatic Surgery Corporation

Hemostatix Corporation

Robert F Shaw

John M Sperinde

Philip E Eggers

Leland C Clark, Jr

Dennis Joseph Denen

Paul E Stoft

Philip Eugene Eggers

John M Cage

John Joseph Knittle

Albert E Weller, Iii

Raymond C Ramsey

David E Stutz

Jack C Cordis

Surgical cutting instrument includes an electrically heated cutting edge and an automatic control system for maintaining the cutting edge at a constant high temperature for sterilizing the blade, cutting tissue, and cauterizing the incised tissue to reduce hemorrhage from the cut surfaces of the tissues (hemostasis).

Electrically heated surgical cutting instrument

Stable emulsions of highly fluorinated organic compounds for use as oxygen transport agents, 'artificial bloods' or red blood cell substitutes and as contrast agents for biological imaging. The emulsions comprise a highly fluorinated organic compound, an oil that is not substantially surface active and not significantly soluble in water, a surfactant and water.

Stable emulsions of highly fluorinated organic compounds

Methods and apparatus are provided for use in performing electrosurgery, wherein a power supply supplies an electrosurgical instrument with a low voltage power signal having a substantially constant peak-to-peak voltage that is independent of the load impedance and which has a crest factor near unity. A power supply is provided to supply a voltage waveform in accordance with the methods of the invention. A clipping circuit is also provided to permit practice of the methods using conventional electrosurgcial generators and previously known electrosurgical instruments, wherein the voltage amplitude and waveform is modified to the desired regime.

Electrosurgical apparatus employing constant voltage and methods of use

A non-volatile memory disposed within electrically powered medical equipment is described. The non-volatile memory may be preprogrammed to store utilization limits and parametric data for the equipment. An external control module may be programmed to store the utilization history for the equipment in the non-volatile memory on an on-going basis. The control module compares the utilization limits and utilization history during each use, and disables the equipment if a utilization limit is exceeded. The control module may also use the parametric data stored in the non-volatile memory to regulate the power supplied to the equipment.

Local in-device memory feature for electrically powered medical equipment

A hemostatic surgical blade and methods of manufacturing such blades are provided, wherein the blade comprises a laminate region having a hardenable center layer and highly thermally conductive outer layers, joined to a second region of a low thermal conductivity material. A heating element is secured to the laminate region and in thermal communication therewith to thermally reform the collagen of tissue as it is incised. The heat generated by the heating element is conducted to the cutting edge of the blade to maintain the cutting edge temperature within 20.degree. C. to 70.degree. C. of a user-selected operating temperature. The second region reduces the conduction of heat to the handle of the instrument. The heating element comprises a thermally conductive dielectric layer attached to an outer surface of the laminate region, resistive conductive elements deposited on the dielectric, a second dielectric layer covering the resistive conductor elements, and an abherent coating disposed thereon to reduce coagulum buildup on the blade.

Electrically heated surgical blade and methods of making

Method and means are disclosed for preventing tissue from adhering to surgical apparatus while operating at tissue temperatures at which hemostasis with minimal tissue damage occurs, and include interposing between the surgical apparatus and the tissue being heated thereby an abherent coating which exhibits electrical insulation and thermal impedance, thickness and thermal drop thereacross within specified limits.

Abherent surgical instrument and method

A thermodilution catheter has electrodes in electrical contact with the blood flowing adjacent to the catheter. A potential difference applied to the electrodes causes electrical current to flow in the volume of blood in the region of the electrodes, thereby creating a bolus of blood at elevated temperature suitable for measurement of blood flow by the thermodilution principle.

Methods and apparatus for performing in vivo blood thermodilution

Catheter apparatus having transmitting and receiving optical fibers for photometric analysis of a fluid eliminates the need for individually calibrating each catheter within a population of catheters by making substantially uniform the center-to-center spacing between the outlet aperture of each and every transmitting fiber and the inlet aperture of each and every receiving fiber of an individual catheter for all catheters within a population of catheters; and by making the size and shape of all the outlet apertures of all transmitting fibers generally uniform and the size and shape of the inlet apertures of all receiving fibers generally uniform in each catheter and from catheter to catheter and that the orientation of all transmitting fibers relative to all receiving fibers be similar.

Improved optical catheter and method for making same

The cutting edge of a scalpel blade is heated to an elevated preselected constant operating temperature for cutting tissue with simultaneous hemostasis by dielectric heating of the internal structure of the blade in the region along the cutting edge. Selective heating of regions of the cutting edge that are locally cooled by contact with tissues during surgical cutting is provided for by constructing the heating elements of the blade of ferroelectric materials that have a Curie point in the operating temperature range and that provide large increases in loss factor (the product of relative dielectric constant times the ratio of loss current to charging current) for temperature decrements below the Curie point.

Surgical instrument having self-regulating dielectric heating of its

An optical scattering reference medium is formed of a plurality of scattering particles substantially uniformly dispersed in a substantially compliant, non-compressable transparent solid medium which is selectively positionable against the distal end of an optical catheter for use therewith within a sterilizable disposable package for performing repeatable photometric measurements to standardize the performance of the photometric measuring instrument.

Sterilizable, disposable optical scattering reference medium and

Optical catheters and method for making same

Particulate sources of signal which can be detected outside the body of a patient are introduced into the circulating blood and are tracked in three dimensions in the region of the heart using suitable detectors disposed about the patient's chest. This permits the sequence of positions of each particle to be recorded as a function of time as each particle flows through a coronary vessel. Data analyses of these recordings of particle positions provide information about the velocity of blood flow through the course of each coronary artery. This velocity information is used to determine the extent, severity and location of stenotic lesions of the coronary arteries.

Signalling particles for introduction into blood flowing through a

The cutting edge of a scalpel blade is heated to an elevated preselected constant operating temperature for cutting tissue with simultaneous hemostasis by radiant heating of the blade in the region along the cutting edge. Radiant energy is contained within the blade by a reflective coating over the transparent or translucent blade material. Heating along the cutting edge is provided by the disposition of a radiation-absorptive material beneath the reflective coating in the region along the cutting edge. Selective heating of regions of the cutting edge that are locally cooled by contact with tissues during surgical cutting is provided for by fabricating the radiation-absorptive element of the blade of a thermochromic material that exhibits a substantial increase in absorption coefficient for a temperature decrement within the operating temperature range.

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Robert F Shaw