Patent ID: 7951146

Claim:
An electrosurgical instrument for excising of tissue, comprising: (a) an elongated handle portion having a longitudinal axis and comprising at a proximate end an electrical connector for receiving electrosurgical RF currents, a fluid fitting for receiving irrigation fluid, and a suction fitting for receiving suction, (b) a suction conduit on the handle portion and connected at one end to the suction fitting, (c) an irrigation conduit on the handle portion and connected at one end to the fluid fitting, (d) the handle portion having at a distal end a bare exposed wire-shaped electrode serving as the active electrode, the wire-shaped electrode extending in the plane of the handle portion and parallel to the longitudinal axis spaced laterally from the handle portion, the wire-shaped electrode having a near side closer to the proximate end of the handle portion and a far side closer to the distal end of the handle portion, the wire electrode being constituted of slightly flexible wire such that it will flatten when the instrument is forced down a cannula, (e) means on the handle for connecting the electrical connector to the active electrode, (f) the suction conduit having at the distal end a suction port positioned adjacent the near side of the wire electrode, (g) the irrigation conduit having at the distal end an irrigation port positioned adjacent the far side of the wire electrode, (h) the wire electrode extending down below the irrigation conduit and the suction port being positioned on the side of the handle portion with its opening facing the wire-shaped electrode and the distal end of the handle portion such that fluid exiting from the irrigation port is drawn by the suction force longitudinally along the wire electrode carrying with it any tissue excised by the electrode.