| abstract |
A colored (viz., not black) vitreous enamel coating for an electrosurgical metal cutting blade provides heat-resistant, durable blade coloration and facilitates differentiation or discrimination between, or identification of, different blades. Different colors may be employed on different blade shapes in an array of blades, on blades used for different surgical procedures, or on blades used on different tissue types. The color may be applied to a portion of a blade to denote an edge or other feature. The color may preferentially absorb the primarily blue-trued light emitted by an electrosurgery plasma and preferentially reflect light of other hues; make the blade more visible against surrounding tissues; or discourage reflection of visible or other light (e.g., infrared radiation) in colors that might interfere with markers, sensors or other instruments designed to measure light emitted by or passing through nearby tissue such as by transillumination. |