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Abstract

A set of instruments is described which enables variability in the size and shape of the region of destructive, radio frequency heating (lesion making) of tissue within the living body, and which enables this variability with only one insertion tract into the body up to the region of the targeted tissue. The set of instruments comprises an entrance cannula with a through-opening along its length and with the through-opening being front-facing at the cannula's distal end, a straight lesion electrode which telescopes into said cannula such that the exposed metal tip of the electrode can extend beyond the distal tip of the cannula by a variable amount, and an off-axis-tipped electrode that also telescopes into the cannula so that its uninsulated tip emerges from the cannula's distal end in an off-axis direction. The bare tips of these electrodes can be raised to a radio frequency (rf) potential by connections on electrode's hubs, this rf potential causing the tissue to heat around the tip. Thus, the surgeon has the option, once the cannula is inserted, of: (i) making a straight lesion volume of variable dimension out the end of the cannula using the straight electrode, or; (ii) enlarging the lesion off-axis in any direction or by any distance using the off-axis electrode. Similar straight or off-axis recording electrodes could be used in place of the above lesion electrodes to record electrical activity of the targeted tissue before or after lesion making.

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First Claim