US Patent 10925659 Electrosurgical (RF) medical instruments for cutting and coagulating tissue

An electrosurgical instrument is disclosed including a pencil-grip handle, a shaft coupled to the pencil-grip handle, and an end effector coupled to the shaft. The end effector includes a body, a source electrode, and one or more return electrodes. The source electrode and the one or more return electrodes are configured to provide a multi-phase bipolar electrosurgical signal to tissue. The one or more return electrodes each comprise a first return electrode and a second return electrode. The electrosurgical instrument further includes an electrosurgical generator coupled to the end effector. The electrosurgical generator is configured to produce the multi-phase bipolar electrosurgical signal including a first phase, a second phase, and a third phase. The electrosurgical generator is coupled to the source electrode, the first return electrode, and the second return electrode. The first phase, the second phase, and the third phase are combined to generate the multi-phase bipolar electrosurgical signal.