초록 ▼

Percutaneous tissue removal apparatus comprises a flexible drill shaft, a cutting tip mounted on the shaft for placement adjacent a tissue mass for cutting the tissue, means for transmitting motion to the shaft to move the cutting tip against the tissue to cut tissue fragments from the tissue, and m

Percutaneous tissue removal apparatus comprises a flexible drill shaft, a cutting tip mounted on the shaft for placement adjacent a tissue mass for cutting the tissue, means for transmitting motion to the shaft to move the cutting tip against the tissue to cut tissue fragments from the tissue, and means for removing the tissue fragments along the shaft by suction to a location outside the tissue mass while cutting. The apparatus may include means for collecting one or more selected components of the harvested tissue fragments for implantation of the fragments preferably into the body of the patient from whom they were removed. Where the tissue to be cut is bone, a cutting tip is preferably made of a polymeric material which is softer than the cortical portion of the bone, although the cutting tip may be made of a ceramic or a composite material. A second flexible shaft may be provided either within or about the flexible drill shaft. The harvested tissue fragments may be implanted in the donor patient's body.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method of operating on a patient, said method comprising the steps of forming an opening in the patient's skin, inserting a tubular member through the opening in the patient's skin, moving a leading end portion of the tubular member to a selected location in the patient's body, moving an expand

1. A method of operating on a patient, said method comprising the steps of forming an opening in the patient's skin, inserting a tubular member through the opening in the patient's skin, moving a leading end portion of the tubular member to a selected location in the patient's body, moving an expandable element outward from the leading end portion of the tubular member while the leading end portion of the tubular member is at the selected location in the patient's body, expanding the expandable element under the influence of fluid pressure while the expandable element is at the selected location in the patient's body, applying force against the patient's body tissue with the expandable element during expansion of the expandable element under the influence of fluid pressure while the expandable element is at the selected location in the patient's body, contracting the expandable element by reducing fluid pressure in the expandable element, moving the contracted expandable element from the patient's body through the tubular member, and, thereafter, moving a tool outward from the leading end portion of the tubular member to the selected location in the patient's body where the expandable element was expanded under the influence of fluid pressure.