Patent ID: 7854736

Claim:
A blade assembly for a surgical instrument usable with an electrosurgical generator, the blade assembly being usable to cut tissue and comprising: a) an electrically conductive, hollow intermediate tube having a distal end, a tip at the distal end, a central passageway and a cutting window at the distal end; b) a hollow inner tube rotatably mounted in the central passageway of the intermediate tube and providing a central suction lumen, the inner tube defining a distal end; c) a cutting tool disposed at the distal end of the inner tube that is accessible to the tissue through the cutting window of the intermediate tube, the cutting tool including a cut-out defining a tissue-cutting edge; d) an electrically conductive outer tube disposed over the intermediate hollow tube, the outer tube having a distal end and an opening at the distal end of the outer tube, the opening being radially aligned with the cutting window of the intermediate tube, the outer tube also defining a slot extending across a tip of the distal end; e) an electrically insulating layer disposed between the intermediate and outer tubes, the insulating layer defining a distal end and a slot extending across a tip of the distal end; and f) first and second contacts associated with the outer and intermediate tubes respectively, which connect the outer and intermediate tubes to respective poles of the electrosurgical generator; wherein the rotation of the cutting tool cuts tissue adjacent to the cutting window of the intermediate tube, while the intermediate and outer tubes form electrodes of a bipolar electrosurgical instrument capable of coagulating the tissue adjacent to the cutting window of the intermediate tube, the slots of the outer tube and the insulating layer being aligned such that the distal tip of the intermediate tube is exposed through the slots of the outer tube and the insulating layer to the tissue and is capable of coagulating tissue at the distal tip of the intermediate tube.