Patent ID: 8591505

Claim:
A cryosurgical instrument comprising: an external shaft with a cryotip at a distal end thereof; a cryogen supply tube at a proximal end of the external shaft, the supply tube supplying a cryogen to the instrument; a heat exchanger that cools a portion of the external shaft by directing the supplied cryogen against an inner surface of a portion of the external shaft and an inner surface of the cryotip and that guides exhausted cryogen away from the cryotip; and a flow diverter disposed within the external shaft and between the cryogen supply tube and the heat exchanger, the flow diverter including a first Y-configured passage with an inlet port at an upstream side of the diverter and a second Y-configured passage with an inlet port at a downstream side of the diverter, the first Y-configured passage receiving the supplied cryogen from the cryogen supply tube via the inlet port at the upstream side of the flow diverter and diverting the received cryogen to the heat exchanger in a downstream direction, and the second Y-configured passage receiving exhausted cryogen via the inlet port at the downstream side of the flow diverter and directing the received exhausted cryogen to an exhaust tube in an upstream direction.