ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,303,167, issued on May 20, was assigned to Covidien LP (Mansfield, Mass.).
"Surgical access device with active smoke filtration" was invented by Henry E. Holsten (Hamden, Conn.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surgical access device includes a housing with an elongate tubular member extending distally from the housing. The elongate tubular member has an open distal aperture. A first electrode is disposed in a first region of the elongate tubular member and circumscribes the elongate tubular member. The first electrode is coupled to an anode of a power supply and is configured to provide airborne particulate matter with a negative electri...