Patent ID: 7445617

Claim:
A method of treating tissue of a living human body during a surgical procedure comprising: providing tissue, the tissue comprising normal tissue and abnormal tissue; inserting at least one temperature indicating device into the tissue, the temperature indicating device comprising: a movable indicator to provide an indication of when a trigger temperature has been attained by the normal tissue; and a trigger mechanism to trigger an activation of the indicator when heated to the trigger temperature; heating a targeted section of the tissue sufficiently to ablate at least a portion of the abnormal tissue; and transferring heat from the heated tissue to the trigger mechanism, the heat sufficient to heat the trigger mechanism to the trigger temperature and trigger the activation of the indicator, wherein the indicator comprises a rod which provides an indication of when the trigger temperature has been attained by movement thereof, wherein the temperature indicating device further comprises a housing, the housing having a barrel portion, the barrel portion including at least one planar exterior surface extending longitudinally along the length thereof, the planar surface including a series of markings thereon corresponding to a length measurement; and the indicator rod moves relative to the housing from a retracted position to an extended position.