Appeal No. 1999-2540
Application 08/770,411
using the apparatus the cooling liquid is pumped to the
electrode “[p]rior to the delivery of . . . radio frequency
energy or at the same time” (column 4, lines 48 and 49). The
cooling of the electrode permits the ablation procedure to be
performed without boiling and coagulating blood on the
electrode (which would undesirably increase its impedance) or
unintended necrosis of the surface lining of the heart (see
column 9, et seq.).
Upon argument by the appellants (see, for example, page 9
in the main brief), the examiner concedes that Imran does not
expressly meet the post-cooling limitations in independent
claims 1, 2, 5, 6, 10 and 13 (see n.2, supra). The examiner
nonetheless concludes that “it would [have been] obvious to
continue [Imran’s] cooling the tissue, particularly if the
monitored temperature was still in excess of a desired value.
In support of such an assertion, the Neilson et al reference
was relied upon as a teaching of post energy delivery cooling”
(answer, page 4).
Imran, however, provides no factual support for the
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