Non-stick Polymer Coatings for Energy-based Surgical Devices Employed in Vessel Sealing

Abstract

Energy-based surgical devices are widely used to fuse tissues and seal vessels, but tissue adhesion to the instrument complicates the procedure. We deposit a robust non-stick coating on the jaws of LigaSureTM tissue fusion devices by employing an atmospheric pressure RF-driven plasma with hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) entrained in argon carrier gas. The hydrophobicity, surface energy, surface topography, and chemical characteristics of deposited films are characterized by water contact angle measurements, surface energy test pens, atomic force microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, respectively. We demonstrate significantly reduced tissue adhesion to HMDSO polymer film-coated instruments during the tissue fusion procedure in comparison with uncoated and chromium nitride-coated instruments.