Abstract: A method and device for the automated biopsy and collection of soft tissue having a piercing needle with a receiving port to trap tissue prior to cutting. A motor drive directs and positions the tissue receiving port at a lesion site in arbitrary positions about and along the longitudinal axis of the device. A cutter advances into the receiving chamber and severs tissue which has prolapsed into the receiving port. The severed tissue is then removed from the receiving port without removing the piercing needle receiving port from the lesion site, thus allowing for the accurate, rapid removal of an arbitrary number of core samples with only one insertion. A tissue sample cassette provides storage for the samples as well as a means for coding and decoding the location from which the samples were obtained. Together, these features allow for more accurate and complete sampling of large lesions, for the complete removal of small lesions or removal of other tissue for a variety of reasons.

Abstract: A method and device for the automated biopsy and collection of soft tissue having a piercing needle with a receiving port to trap tissue prior to cutting. A motor drive directs and positions the tissue receiving port at a lesion site in arbitrary positions about and along the longitudinal axis of the device. A cutter advances into the receiving chamber and severs tissue which has prolapsed into the receiving port. The severed tissue is then removed from the receiving port without removing the piercing needle receiving port from the lesion site, thus allowing for the accurate, rapid removal of an arbitrary number of core samples with only one insertion. A tissue sample cassette provides storage for the samples as well as a means for coding and decoding the location from which the samples were obtained. Together, these features allow for more accurate and complete sampling of large lesions, for the complete removal of small lesions or removal of other tissue for a variety of reasons.

Abstract: This invention provides an inventive tissue sampling probe which offers many advantages over probes available in the prior art. Unexpectedly superior results are obtained in connection with the retrieval of intact tissue specimens, because of a unique combination of cutting features, including, in particular, the employment of an electrosurgical cutting element which is extendible to permit ready severance of the distal end of the tissue specimen, without impact to surrounding tissue. Additionally, the inventive instrument is advantageously designed so that portions of the instrument which contact the patient's tissue or fluid discharge (i.e. blood) during a procedure are modular and disposable, to permit ready replacement of those portions with a new module for an ensuing procedure, without the necessity of cleaning and sterilizing the instrument.

Abstract: An implantable marking device is provided which is designed to percutaneously deliver permanent markers to desired tissue locations within a patient's body, even if the desired locations are laterally disposed relative to the distal end of the delivery device, as is the case for conduit or cavity walls. This provides several advantages to the physician in diagnosis and management of tissue abnormalities, such as a means of localization of a tissue abnormality for follow-up surgical treatment, and a means of tissue abnormality site identification for purposes of ongoing diagnostic follow-up. In one preferred construction, a radiographic clip is configured in the form of a surgical staple. A disposable tissue marker applier, which comprises a flexible tube, pull wire, and squeeze handle, is employed to advance and deploy the clip to a desired tissue location. Either a flexible or a rigid introducer is also provided for providing access to the site to be marked.

Abstract: This invention provides an inventive tissue sampling probe which offers many advantages over probes available in the prior art. Unexpectedly superior results are obtained in connection with the retrieval of intact tissue specimens, because of a unique combination of cutting features, including, for example, the employment of an electrosurgical cutting element and a vacuum assist in one preferred embodiment. A particularly important feature of the invention is the ability to manipulate the electrosurgical cutting element to cleanly sever the distal end of the tissue specimen. In certain embodiments, this is accomplished without any cutting impact on surrounding tissue. The versatility of the invention permits its use in many applications, including, for example, breast biopsies, laparoscopic surgery, and lymphadenectomy procedures.

Abstract: A method and device for the automated biopsy and collection of soft tissue having a piercing needle with a receiving port to trap tissue prior to cutting. A motor drive directs and positions the tissue receiving port at a lesion site in arbitrary positions about and along the longitudinal axis of the device. A cutter advances into the receiving chamber and severs tissue which has prolapsed into the receiving port. The severed tissue is then removed from the receiving port without removing the piercing needle receiving port from the lesion site, thus allowing for the accurate, rapid removal of an arbitrary number of core samples with only one insertion. A tissue sample cassette provides storage for the samples as well as a means for coding and decoding the location from which the samples were obtained. Together, these features allow for more accurate and complete sampling of large lesions, for the complete removal of small lesions or removal of other tissue for a variety of reasons.

Abstract: An automatic control system for a vacuum-assisted automatic core biopsy device (10) is provided, wherein the automatic core biopsy device (10) comprises a housing (12), out of which extends a needle assembly (14) including a hollow outer piercing needle (16), an inner cutter (18) having a lumen (20), a probe housing (22), and a tissue receiving notch (24). The automatic control system (92) is computerized to move the hollow outer piercing needle (16) automatically to the target tissue lesion, as was true in the prior art, but also is programmed to automatically control the rotational orientation of the piercing needle (16), and its associated tissue receiving notch (24), as well as the axial positioning and rotation of the cutting cannula (18). Consequently, a clinician user need only mark the desired locations within the target location from which tissue samples are desired and the automatic control system will operate the device to retrieve samples from the marked locations.

Abstract: Instruments for performing percutaneous biopsy procedures are disclosed, which have advantageous features for improving functionality and performance over prior art devices. These instruments comprise two types, single-use devices, and multiple-use devices having active tissue capture capability. Improved features include the ability to retrieve and evaluate multiple tissue samples during a single insertion procedure, without physical handling of the samples, as well as constructional features, such as a molded tissue cassette housing, variant vacuum port embodiments suited for different tissue environments, and a method for backflushing the instrument to remove biological debris, among others.

Abstract: A surgical trocar includes an operative sleeve adapted for disposition across a tissue barrier and an obturator removably disposed in the sleeve. An obturator includes a cutting element which is operable to cut the tissue. The obturator and the operative sleeve can be advanced through the cut tissue and the obturator removed leaving the sleeve operatively disposed for further surgery. A cutoff and reset mechanism is responsive to a condition present when the obturator penetrates the tissue barrier to inhibit further cutting by the cutting element. A reset mechanism is manually operable through the conscious efforts of the surgeon to reset the trocar should further cutting be desired. The cutoff and reset mechanisms can be embodied mechanically as well as electrically and adapted to both mechanical and electrosurgical trocars.

Abstract: A method and device for the automated biopsy and collection of soft tissue having a piercing needle with a receiving port to trap tissue prior to cutting. A motor drive directs and positions the tissue receiving port at a lesion site in arbitrary positions about and along the longitudinal axis of the device. A cutter advances into the receiving chamber and severs tissue which has prolapsed into the receiving port. The severed tissue is then removed from the receiving port without removing the piercing needle receiving port from the lesion site, thus allowing for the accurate, rapid removal of an arbitrary number of core samples with only one insertion. A tissue sample cassette provides storage for the samples as well as a means for coding and decoding the location from which the samples were obtained. Together, these features allow for more accurate and complete sampling of large lesions, for the complete removal of small lesions or removal of other tissue for a variety of reasons.

Abstract: A medical access device is adapted to receive an instrument and comprises a housing defining an inner channel and a valve disposed in the channel to form a seal with the housing. The valve includes an outer wall and a pair of inner walls extending in distally converging relationship to define a slot. At least one compression member extends between the outer wall and an associated one of the inner walls. The compression member is compressed in response to insertion of the instrument and exerts a force on the associated inner wall when compressed to reduce leakage of the valve when the instrument is inserted. A funnel is provided at the distal end of the valve to facilitate backloading of the instrument.

Abstract: A trocar having a cannula and housing which define an access channel, is configured to receive a surgical instrument. A flexible valve disposed in the channel includes first portions which define an orifice through the valve and second portions which are disposed outwardly of the first portions. The second portions are provided with a greater flexibility so that when the instrument is inserted off-axis, the second portions of the valve will deform before the first portions causing the orifice to move without substantial deformation to the off-axis location. Alternatively, levers engaging the first portions of the valve can be pivotally mounted on a floating ring to move the substantially undeformed orifice to the off-axis location. An associated method includes the steps of deforming the second portions of the valve without substantially deforming the first portions of the valve to move the orifice into axial alignment with the instrument.

Abstract: An access device has an axis extending between a proximal end and an opposing distal end, and properties for facilitating introduction into the body of an instrument having a pointed distal tip. The device includes a housing having walls defining a channel extending through the device and a valve disposed in the housing across the channel and adapted to form a seal around the instrument. The valve includes inner portions defining an aperture to receive the instrument and outer portions extending radially outwardly of the inner portions. Means carried by the housing is positioned to be disposed between the instrument and at least the outer portion of the seal for isolating the seal from the pointed distal tip during insertion of the instrument.

Abstract: A septum valve in a trocar assembly has a variable orifice that is responsive to a cross-sectional dimension of the surgical instrument being inserted into the trocar channel, thereby minimizing leakage of inflation gas from the body cavity, such as the abdomen, being operated on. An elastomeric septum is disposed in the channel and includes portions which define an orifice having in a relaxed state a first cross-sectional area. An actuation assembly provided with levers which pivot radially outwardly to expand the seal and thereby expand the orifice to the second cross-sectional area in response to entry of the instrument into the channel. The actuation assembly is free to float in an annular recess to accommodate an instrument which is misaligned with the trocar channel.

Abstract: A flexible, preferably coiled wire for use in small-vessel vaso-occlusion. The wire has a stretched, linear condition in which it can be advanced through a catheter lumen to a selected vessel, and a relaxed, convoluted condition produced by a combination of a helical winding of the wire, and irregularities of the helical winding. When the wire is released from a catheter into a vessel, it assumes a randomly coiled, substantially space-filling mass which is lodged at the site of release. In a preferred embodiment, the helical winding in the wire's relaxed condition has about the same diameter as that of the vessel, and the wire, in its stretched condition, has a length of about 15-20 times the vessel diameter.

Abstract: A system for measuring first and second fluid pressures within a patient comprising a valve having first and second positions, first and second conduits for providing communication between a fluid source and the valve, a pressure transducer coupled to the first conduit upstream of the valve, and third and fourth conduits for providing communication between the valve and first and second fluid pressures, respectively. When the valve is in the first position, it couples the first conduit to the third conduit, and the second conduit to the fourth conduit so that the pressure transducer can measure the first fluid pressure. When the valve is in the second position, it couples the first conduit to the fourth conduit and the second conduit to the third conduit so that the pressure transducer can measure the second fluid pressure. In both positions of the valve, fluid flows through the transducer.