US Patent Issued to Stryker on Sept. 1 for "Bi-polar surgical instrument" (Indiana Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 1 -- United States Patent no. 12,721,671, issued on Sept. 1, was assigned to Stryker Corp. (Portage, Mich.).

"Bi-polar surgical instrument" was invented by Joseph L. Mark (Indianapolis) and Brian C. Dougherty (Terre Haute, Ind.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surgical device is disclosed that comprises a shaft member and a pair of electrodes. The shaft member has a pair of electrode channels that open at the distal end of the shaft member, wherein the electrode channels are positioned adjacent to one another. The pair of electrodes are configured to deliver energy, and one of the pair of electrodes is configured to be disposed in each electrode channel such that distal...