ELECROSURGICAL ABLATION TOOL

This is a tool used during open heart or open chest surgery for creating lesions or lines of ablation in tissue to treat atrial fibrillation. It is a relatively short device having a rigid or semi-rigid shaft connected on one end to a handle and on the other end to a more flexible distal tip having one or more electrodes. The distal end of the shaft is angled so to define a first plane of deflection. A deflection mechanism consisting of a pull wire and flat spring housed in a lumen of the tool is manipulable via the handle for deflecting the distal tip in a plane different than the first plane of deflection, allowing direct contact with the curved surface of the tissue, either epicardial or endocardial, to be ablated. The tool may contain fiber optic or other data lines for transmitting data relevant to the patient, and it may be irrigated to cool the tool and the electrodes or to deliver therapeutic fluids to tissue. The tool may also contain temperature sensing device such as a thermocouple or thermistor, which can optionally be configured in a feedback and control system with the irrigation to selectively monitor and control the temperature of the tool or surrounding tissue.