Surgical instrument having self-regulating dielectric heating of its cutting edge and method of using the same

摘要

The cutting edge of a scalpel blade is heated to an elevated preselected constant operating temperature for cutting tissue with simultaneous hemostasis by dielectric heating of the internal structure of the blade in the region along the cutting edge. Selective heating of regions of the cutting edge that are locally cooled by contact with tissues during surgical cutting is provided for by constructing the heating elements of the blade of ferroelectric materials that have a Curie point in the operating temperature range and that provide large increases in loss factor (the product of relative dielectric constant times the ratio of loss current to charging current) for temperature decrements below the Curie point.