Appeal No. 2000-0448
Application No. 08/605,765
commensurate with the scope of the claim. Argument (2) is
likewise not well taken, because in the Guglielmi process, the
electrical energy is not applied until after the coil has been
deployed in place at the target site to be occluded (see col.
8, lines 14 to 18). Contrary to what appellant seems to
believe, neither claim 1 nor claim 2 requires that the
electrical energy be applied through a vaso-occlusive element
(coil) which was deployed at the target site at some time2
prior to deployment of the apparatus which applies the
electrical energy.
Concerning appellant’s remaining arguments, Brunelle, in
the "Discussion" section on pages 414 and 415, states that
there are several drawbacks to DC electrothrombosis, which is
the method employed by Guglielmi to occlude, inter alia, an
artery or vein (col. 6, line 59). Brunelle discloses that, as
opposed to DC electrothrombosis:
The main phenomenon in AC current
electrocoagulation is local rise [in?]
temperature leading to thermic coagulation
of surrounding tissues . . . .
2We note that in claim 2, "coil" has no antecedent basis,
and apparently should be --element--.
7
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