U.S. Patent 8128624 was awarded to Covidien AG on 2012-03-06 and describes a “Electrosurgical instrument that directs energy delivery and protects adjacent tissue.” This patent has been cited 254 times by other U.S. patents which places it in the top 500 cited patents since 2010 according to our law firm research, and makes it of the most innovative medical technology patents in the field of instruments. The abstract states:

An electrode sealing assembly is designed for use with an electrosurgical instrument for sealing tissue and includes first and second jaw members each having an insulative housing and being movable from a first position in spaced relation relative to one another to at least one second position for grasping tissue therebetween. Each of the jaw members includes an electrically conductive sealing member disposed within the respective insulative housing. At least one of the insulative housings includes at least one tissue engaging surface configured to extend beyond the electrically conductive sealing member of one of the jaw members. The tissue engaging surface of the insulative housing cooperates with the opposing insulative housing of the opposing jaw member to both pinch and spread tissue when the jaw members are moved to the second position to decrease extraneous energy transmittance to tissue surrounding the jaw members. Link: U.S. Patent 8128624

This patent was originally filed on 2006-05-30 which gives it a processing time of 2107 days, compared to an average processing time of 1933 in the field. Covidien AG has 395 total patents. The first named inventor is Gary M. Couture of Ward, CO. The assistant examiner was Jaymi Della.

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