Patent ID: 8348929

Claim:
An endoscopically-guided electro-cauterizing power-assisted tissue aspiration system, for safely removing visceral fat tissue from a patient having an abdomen including a mesenteric region, said endoscopically-guided electro-cauterizing power-assisted tissue aspiration system comprising: an endoscopy system having a video probe having a field of view (FOV), for insertion into the patient by one or more surgeons; one or more video monitors for displaying, to said one or more surgeons and assistants, digital video images of the patient's abdomen, captured along the FOV of said video probe; and digital recording equipment for recording captured digital video images; an electro-cauterizing tissue aspiration system including (i) a powered hand-supportable instrument including a hand-supportable housing and being provided with an electro-cauterizing cannula assembly having an inner cannula mounted for reciprocating movement within an outer cannula, wherein said inner cannula has an inner aspiration aperture, and wherein said outer cannula is mounted stationary to said hand- supportable housing and has an outer aspiration aperture; and (ii) a system controller operably connected to said powered hand-supportable instrument, for supplying power to drive said inner cannula to reciprocate within said outer cannula, and (iii) a RF signal generating module for generating RF-power signals functioning as electro-cauterizing signals provided about said outer aspiration aperture of said outer cannula; a vacuum pump operably connected to said inner cannula, for aspirating visceral fat tissue from the mesenteric region of said patient, through said outer and inner aspiration apertures of said electro-cauterizing cannula assembly; and an infusion pump controlled by said system controller, for periodically or continuously infusing solution near the distal portion of said electro-cauterizing cannula assembly during aspiration of visceral fat tissue from said patient.