Abstract: A device and method for the surgical removal of tissue from a mammalian body, specifically arteriosclerotic plaques from human beings, including a photo-degradatory endoscope having a tip end and a tubular body connected to a power source, a light source, controls, and a viewer, which are remote from the tip end, the tubular body comprising a light-transmissive material such that catalyst-activating wavelengths emitted from the light source are transmitted to the tip end and through a tip into the body; and a photocatalyst for tissue degradation that is presented proximal the tip end for making a reaction with catalyst-activating wavelengths transmitted from the light source through the tubular body, through the tip, and into the body.