Patent ID: 8409199

Claim:
A method for sealing and dividing blood vessels or thermocauterizing tissue with surgical forceps that include a forceps body and a pair of elongate tine members mounted to and extending from the forceps body to respective opposed free end tip portions spaced from the forceps body, the method comprising: electrically connecting power source leads to a power supply, at least one of said tip portions of the tine members comprising a heater element connected to the power source leads and said heater element having a flat, gripping and heating surface defined on an inner facing surface of said at least one of said tip portions; moving the tine members in a resilient compressible manner between a normally open position wherein the tine members are disposed in an aligned and spaced-apart relationship and a squeezed closed position wherein the tip portions of the tine members are disposed in a confronting abutting relationship; activating the heater elements to heat the flat gripping and heating surfaces thereof to a tissue cauterizing or blood vessel sealing temperature; supplying a high initial current to the heater element for rapid heat and then supplying a reduced current to said heater element for maintenance of the heat; and squeezing together the tine members toward the squeezed closed position to grippingly, squeezably, engage tissue to be cauterized or a blood vessel to be sealed between the flat gripping and heating surface of said heater element and the opposed tip portion.