Patent ID: 9579144
Date: 2017-02-28
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. An electrosurgical method for monitoring temperature during an electrosurgical procedure to ablate soft tissue at a target site, the electrosurgical method comprising: delivering high frequency energy to an active electrode terminal located at a distal end of an electrosurgical probe, said active electrode terminal being positioned in electrically conductive fluid during the electrosurgical procedure and wherein a current flow path from the active electrode terminal, through the electrically conductive fluid, to a return electrode is created when the high frequency energy is delivered; monitoring a temperature signal indicative of a temperature of the electrically conductive fluid; and automatically suspending the delivering step for a suspension period while monitoring said temperature signal, wherein the suspension period is defined as a duration that continues until a rate of change in said temperature signal is less than a threshold value; wherein the step of automatically suspending comprises suspending the delivery step for a plurality of suspension periods performed according to a suspension frequency (F) that is adjustable between 1 suspension period every 3 seconds and 2 suspension periods per second.