Patent ID: 7172601

Claim:
A surgical apparatus comprising: a housing, said apparatus having a proximal end and a surgical tip at its distal end, said housing containing therewithin: cooling means for freeze-sealing mammalian tissue, said cooling means extending from said housing to the surgical tip, said cooling means comprising: a) a coolant outflow tube having a lumen in communication with coolant supply means, said coolant outflow tube providing flow of coolant through said lumen from said proximal end towards said surgical distal end of said apparatus; b) a coolant return tube providing return of coolant from said surgical distal end towards said proximal end of the apparatus; at least one communicating bore present in the distal end of the apparatus allows passage of coolant from the coolant outflow tube to the coolant return tube; an expansion chamber having a cross-section larger than that of the coolant return tube, said expansion chamber located on the extreme distal end of said coolant return tube, said coolant outflow tube being concentrically disposed within said coolant return tube; electrically-powered heating means, said heating means raising and regulating the temperature of said apparatus; and a thermostat for determining the temperature of the surgical tip; wherein said coolant outflow tube further allows introduction of tissue-emulsifying surgical implements so as to extend out through said surgical distal end of said apparatus; and said apparatus being electrically connected to: a control unit activating said cooling means, and said control unit activating said heating means, such that upon activation of said control unit, coolant flow is induced from said coolant supply means, through said coolant outflow tube towards the distal end of said coolant outflow tube, through said communicating bore into said expansion chamber resulting in lowering the temperature at the expansion chamber to a temperature at which mammalian tissue contacting the expansion chamber would adhere to the apparatus.