An apparatus and methods for tissue restoration are provided. The apparatus may include a catheter shaft extending from a proximal end to a distal tip, the catheter shaft defining lumens including an inflation lumen and a light fiber lumen, a coated balloon positioned on a translucent distal segment of the catheter shaft proximal to the distal tip in fluid communication with the inflation lumen, the coated distal balloon comprising a translucent material and a coated material on an outer surface of the coated balloon, and a light fiber positioned in the catheter shaft in the light fiber lumen and extending through the translucent distal segment.

An improved surgical instrument having an end effector mounted on the end of an elongate shaft extending from a handle. The end-effector is capable of different operations, including grasping, cutting, and sealing and/or coagulating tissue, and one of the operations is controlled by a trigger mechanism contained within the handle. In some embodiments, the end effector includes a pair of curved jaw members and blade assembly having a cutting blade at its distal end. The trigger mechanism drives blade assembly longitudinally within the elongate shaft such that the cutting blade protrudes between the jaw members. To help the trigger mechanism push the blade assembly around the curved jaws, the distal end of blade has a graduated flexibility that easily bends to the shape of the jaw members. The distal end of the blade may also be provided with a low friction coating so that it can easily slide between the jaw members.

An electrosurgical device for puncturing tissue comprises an electrically conductive elongate member which is capable of force transmission from a distal portion of the electrosurgical device to a proximal portion of the electrosurgical device to thereby provide tactile feedback to a user. The proximal portion comprises a connector system for connecting a source of energy and a source of fluid to an electrosurgical device. The connector system includes a hub which includes an electrically conductive lengthwise member having a lengthwise member distal region and a lengthwise member proximal region. The lengthwise member defines a hub lumen therebetween and is configured to be operatively coupled to an electrosurgical device.

An improved surgical instrument having an end effector mounted on the end of an elongate shaft extending from a handle. The end-effector is capable of several different operations, including grasping, cutting, and sealing and/or coagulating tissue, and one of the operations is controlled by a trigger mechanism contained within the handle. The end effector includes a pair of curved jaw members and a blade assembly having a cutting blade at its distal end. The trigger mechanism is arranged to drive the blade assembly longitudinally within the elongate shaft such that the cutting blade protrudes between jaw members. In order to help trigger mechanism push the blade assembly around the curved jaws, the distal end of the blade has a graduated flexibility such that it can more easily bend to the shape of the jaw members. The distal end of blade may also be provided with a low friction coating.

A surgical instrument having a handle, elongate shaft protruding from handle and end-effector located at end of shaft is described. To allow for rotation of the end-effector the shaft is connected to a rotation wheel mounted on handle, towards rearward end of handle proximal to the user. The rotation wheel is in the form of a thumbwheel, having an ergonomically designed shape that tapers from distal direction to proximal direction, with angle of the taper matching angle of the outer surface of the handle. The outer tapered surface of the thumbwheel has a number of shaped cut-out or scalloped portions arranged around the outer circumference of the wheel, and arranged in use to receive the tip of a user's thumb to allow the user to rotate the wheel in order to set the rotational orientation of the end-effector. Such an arrangement provides a comfortable and easy to use instrument.

A surgical instrument includes an end effector with a surface made of amorphous titanium oxide, and a film resin covering the surface and chemically bonding to the surface.

Device and method for sub-xiphoid ablation of patient tissue. A sub-xiphoid access clamp has a handle, an elongate neck coupled to the handle and first and second opposing jaws. The first and second opposing jaws have first and second opposing relief segments being generally co-planar and concave with respect to one another to form a void therebetween, and first and second opposing elongate ablation elements positioned along the first and second opposing jaws and distal of the first and second opposing relief segments relative to the handle. The first and second opposing jaws are articulate between a closed position and an open position to admit, at least in part, a second portion of tissue of the patient within the void created by the first and second opposing relief segments while the first portion of tissue is positioned between the first and second ablation elements in the closed position.

A surgical instrument is configured to concurrently dissect and coagulate tissue. The surgical instrument includes a handle and a shaft extending distally from the handle. The shaft includes an outer hypotube, a lumen coaxially-disposed within the hypotube and extending beyond a distal end thereof, a coaxial feedline coaxially-disposed within the lumen, and having an inner conductor and an outer conductor disposed coaxially about the inner conductor, and a coolant tube coaxially-disposed between the lumen and the coaxial feedline to form an inflow conduit and an outflow conduit. The instrument further includes a dissecting head assembly coupled to a distal end of the shaft. The dissecting head assembly includes a dielectric core having a substantially planar radiating surface and at least one non-radiating surface, a reflective coating disposed on the at least one non-radiating surface of the dielectric core, and a blade extending from the radiating surface.

A microsurgical probe employs an optional probe support structure; an optical fiber for providing a feed path for an emission wavelength; a chemical feed path for delivering a chemical; a resonator motor; and a probe accessory tool. A microsurgical system additionally employs a sensor and an artificial intelligence (AI) system to assess conditions based on data provided by the sensor. The system can be employed to remove tumor tissue that is interwoven with healthy tissue. This system can also be employed to fertilize old, inflexible ova.

A surgical instrument having an end effector mounted on the end of an elongate shaft extending from a handle is described, the shaft and end effector being rotatable with respect to the housing, to allow different rotational orientations of the end effector to be attained without rotating the whole instrument. To provide for control over the degree of rotation, shaft rotation control elements are provided to give rotation or torsion control. The shaft rotation control elements may be located at several different longitudinal positions along the shaft. Alternatively, rotation control elements in the form of mutually co-operating stops may be provided elsewhere, such as in a rotatable shaft support member at the distal end of the handle. In other embodiments rotation control stops are provided on both elements, thus providing for effective rotation control, which has a high quality feel to the user.