| abstract |
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention allows an electrosurgical team to perform electrosurgical treatments such as resection or amputation of human tissue while limiting the depth of necrosis and limiting tissue damage adjacent to the treatment area. An electrosurgical device and method for enabling it to be performed. The device has an electrosurgical probe (10) having a proximal end, a distal end, and at least one active electrode (14) located at or near the distal end. The active electrode (14) has at least one active portion that is activated when a high frequency voltage is applied to the electrode without causing substantial tissue necrosis beyond the boundaries of the thin tissue layer to be ablated. It has a surface geometry configured to substantially promote a high electric field strength and associated high current density between the electrode and the target site. The ablation process can be precisely controlled to minimize the heating of surrounding or underlying tissue structures, or to minimize the damage to them and to quantitatively remove several layers of tissue. |