An electrosurgical wand is disclosed for treating a plurality of tissues at a variety of tissue locations. The electrosurgical wand includes a handle on a proximal end and an elongate shaft with a combination active electrode at the distal end. The combination active electrode includes with a blade and screen portion; the blade portion extending along and laterally from the wand longitudinal axis, forming a dissecting tip. The screen portion extends from the blade portion at an obtuse angle and has at least one aspiration aperture through it. The wand also includes a second and third electrode, proximally spaced from the combination active electrode. The second electrode spans a portion of an outside surface of the wand adjacent the blade portion, while the third electrode spans a portion of the outside surface of the wand opposite the second electrode.

A tool has a handle and an elongate shaft that extends distally from the handle. A distal portion of the shaft is inserted into a subject during a surgical procedure. An optical fiber delivers laser energy to a tip at the distal portion of the shaft. The tip includes a mechanical cutting mechanism including a moving part that absorbs the laser energy, thermally conducts the absorbed energy to tissue that is disposed between the moving part and another part, and moves with respect to the other part in order to cut tissue that is disposed between the parts using a mechanical force that is lower than a mechanical force that would be required to cut the tissue in the absence of the laser energy. Other embodiments are also described.

An electrosurgical generator for providing different high-frequency alternating voltages/high-frequency alternating currents includes at least two outputs to which an electrosurgical instrument is or can be connected, at least one high-frequency voltage source, and at least two output transformers connected on the primary side to the high-frequency voltage source and on the secondary side to the outputs for an electrosurgical instrument, wherein both the primary windings of the output transformers can be interconnected via switches and the secondary windings of the output transformers can be interconnected via switches.

Embodiments of medical treatment including skin treatment using electrical energy, especially with the primary purpose for skin treatment for aesthetics are described generally herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

A laser atherectomy device includes a light delivery catheter equipped with sensors for monitoring physical characteristics at a laser application site. An integrated control unit utilizing data from said sensors is provided to optimally adjust laser energy parameters and to provide for safe and efficacious ablation of the blood vessel occlusion.

A laser and a minimally invasive dental surgical procedure using the laser to stimulate periodontal tissue formation.

An ablation apparatus for creating a lesion in target tissue, the ablation apparatus having an ablation shaft including a handle, a first portion, an ablation portion, distal tip, at least one ablation energy delivery lumen, at least one ablation energy return lumen, and a stylet lumen that extends substantially along a length of the ablation shaft from the handle to at least the ablation portion. The ablation apparatus also includes a stylet that is capable of being inserted into the stylet lumen where the stylet is made of a shape-memory material.

Tissue may be cut and extracted from an interior location in a patient's body using a probe or tool which both effects cutting and causes vaporization of a liquid or other fluid to propel the cut tissue through an extraction lumen of the cutting device. The cutting may be achieved using an electrosurgical electrode assembly, including a first electrode on a cutting member and a second electrode within a cutting probe or tool. Thus, over a first cutting portion, radio frequency current may help cut the tissue and over a second or over transition region, the RF current may initiate vaporization of the fluid or other liquid to propel the tissue from the cutting device.

A puncturing device configured to create a puncture in a tissue comprising an elongate member comprising a proximal portion defining a longitudinal axis along the length of the elongate member. The elongate member further comprises a flexible distal portion of the that curves away from the longitudinal axis and a distal tip configured to deliver energy to the tissue. A sensing element placed on the flexible distal portion of the elongate member detects the curvature of the distal portion such that when the flexible distal portion of the elongate member is straightened, energy is delivered to the distal tip and when the flexible distal portion of the elongate member is curved, energy is not delivered to the distal tip.

An exemplary treatment system can be provided which can include a laser system configured to emit at least one laser beam, and an optical system configured to focus the laser beam(s) to a focal region at a selected distance from a surface of a tissue. The focal region can be configured to illuminate at least a portion of a target. The optical system can cause an irradiation energy transferred to the focal region of the laser beam(s) to (i) generate a plasma in a first region of the tissue adjacent to the target, and (ii) avoid a generation of a plasma in a second region of the tissue. The optical system has a numerical aperture that is in the range of about 0.5 to about 0.9. An exemplary method can also be provided to control such treatment system.