Patent ID: 8273085

Claim:
An electrosurgical instrument comprising: a body portion, an actuator mechanism associated with the body portion, and first and second jaw members each having a jaw body, the first jaw member including a first electrode having a relatively large area conductive seal surface and a relatively smaller area conductive edge portion, the second jaw member including a second electrode also having a relatively large area conductive seal surface and a relatively smaller area conductive edge portion, the first jaw member comprising: a third electrode associated with its jaw body, and having a conductive exposed surface area, and an insulator separating the first electrode from the third electrode, the actuator mechanism being configured to provide an operation of moving one or both of the first and second jaw members between a first position in which the jaw members are open, a second position in which the first and second jaw members are sufficiently closed so as to be capable of grasping tissue therebetween, and a third position in which the first and second jaw members are further closed such that the conductive seal surfaces on each jaw member are adjacent to one another and such that predominantly the conductive edge portion of one or both of the seal surfaces is exposed, the conductive exposed area of the third electrode being greater than that of the conductive exposed edge portion, the electrosurgical instrument also including first, second and third connection elements capable of independently connecting the first, second and third electrodes to an electrosurgical generator.