US Patent Issued to Smith & Nephew on June 30 for "Plasma surgery device" (Texas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,667,413, issued on June 30, was assigned to Smith & Nephew Inc. (Memphis, Tenn.).

"Plasma surgery device" was invented by Jean Woloszko (Austin, Texas), Johnson E. Goode (Austin, Texas) and Brent R. Dinger (Austin, Texas).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An electrosurgical wand is provided and includes a handle and an elongate shaft coupled to the handle and extending distally from the handle along an axis. An active electrode is disposed at a distal end of the electrosurgical wand. A return electrode abuts the elongate shaft and extends along and annularly about the axis. The return electrode has a top side adjacent the active electrode an...