Clamp based methods and apparatus for forming lesions in tissue and confirming whether a therapeutic lesion has been formed
View Patent ↗Surgical systems, devices and methods including one or more tissue stimulation elements that, in some instances, may also be used for sensing purposes. Some of the surgical devices also include a tissue coagulation element.
1. A method of providing a surgical procedure to a patient, the method comprising:
contacting a surgical apparatus to a heart tissue of the patient, wherein the surgical apparatus comprises a clamp having a first clamp member and a second clamp member capable of movement relative to each other, a coagulation electrode assembly carried by the clamp, and a stimulation electrode assembly carried by the clamp;
delivering coagulation energy through the coagulation electrode assembly to the heart tissue of the patient; and
delivering pulses of tissue stimulation energy varying in amplitude over a range of 1 mA to 20 mA through the stimulation electrode assembly to the heart tissue of the patient.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second clamp members have a pre-shaped curvature.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising locking the clamp with a locking device so as to provide a spacing between the first and second clamp members.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coagulation electrode assembly comprises a first coagulation electrode coupled with the first clamp member and a second coagulation electrode coupled with the second clamp member.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stimulation electrode assembly comprises a first stimulation electrode coupled with the first clamp member and a second stimulation electrode coupled with the second clamp member.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising delivering stimulation energy to the patient in a bipolar mode that includes transmitting stimulation energy to the first stimulation electrode and receiving stimulation energy from the second stimulation electrode, and delivering stimulation energy to the patient in a unipolar mode that includes transmitting stimulation energy to both the first stimulation electrode and the second stimulation electrode.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein at least one pulse of tissue stimulation energy has a duration of 1 millisecond.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one pulse of tissue stimulation energy is delivered at a rate between 10 pW and 40 pW.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least at least a portion of the pulses of tissue stimulation energy are delivered at a pulse frequency of two stimulation pulses per second.