Founded in 1993, ArthroCare Corporation is a multibusiness medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets minimally invasive surgical products. It has a facility at Austin, Texas, and its manufacturing base is located in Costa Rica. With these products, it targets a multibillion dollar market opportunity across several medical specialties. Many of ArthroCare s products are based on its patented Coblation technology, which uses low-temperature radiofrequency energy to dissolve rather than burn soft tissue, and minimize the damage of healthy tissue. Used in more than 4 million surgeries worldwide, Coblation-based devices have been developed and marketed for sports medicine, spine and neurologic, ear, nose and throat, cosmetic, urologic and gynecologic procedures. ArthroCare Corporation has also added a number of technologies to its portfolio, including Opus Medical sports medicine, Parallax spine and applied therapeutics ENT products, to complement Coblation within key indications.