Patent ID: 8444641

Claim:
An electrosurgical suction coagulator, comprising: a housing having proximal and distal ends and a substantially malleable elongated tube-like shaft extending longitudinally from the distal end thereof, the elongated tube-like shaft including: a tube-like dielectric sheath; a tube-like electrode having a first thermal conductivity K 1 disposed coaxially through the tube-like dielectric sheath and configured to operably couple to a source of electrosurgical energy, the tube-like electrode being adapted at the proximal end thereof to operably couple to a source of suction; and a thermally conductive member having a second thermal conductivity K 2 that is less than K 1 , the thermally conductive member being configured to impede the propagation of thermal energy in a proximal direction from the distal end of the tube-like shaft, wherein the thermally conductive member is an electrically conductive distal tip mechanically coupled to a distal end of the tube-like electrode, the electrically conductive distal tip being disposed in electrical communication with the tube-like electrode to provide electrosurgical energy to tissue.