Patent ID: 9636187
Date: 2017-05-02
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. A surgical method comprising: providing an ultrasonic surgical instrument and a shield comprising a shield support member in the form of an at least semi-rigid polymeric sheet or web member able to retain its shape under its own weight, said sheet or web member having an aperture and a perimeter and extending continuously in at least two spatial dimensions radially from said aperture to said perimeter, said shield further including at least one flexible sheet member attached to said shield support member so as to define an enclosure having one open side opposing said aperture, said at least one flexible sheet member having a free edge opposite said shield support member and defining said open side; inserting at least a distal end portion of said instrument through said aperture; releasably coupling said shield support member to a member taken from the group consisting of said instrument and an appendage of a user; manipulating said shield so as to place said open side of said enclosure against an exposed surface of a patient surrounding and spaced from a surgical site; thereafter operating said instrument to debride or ablate organic tissue at said surgical site; and during the operating of said instrument, manipulating said instrument and said shield so as to maintain said free edge of said at least one flexible sheet member in contact with the exposed surface of the patient around said surgical site, contact of said free edge of said at least one flexible sheet member with the exposed surface of the patient depending on the manipulating of said instrument and said shield.