US 5,928,164 C1 (6102nd) | ||
APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATED BIOPSY AND COLLECTION OF SOFT TISSUE | ||
Fred H. Burbank, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; Thomas J. Fogarty, Portola Valley, Calif.; Wayne E. Manska, Anaheim, Calif.; Mark A. Ritchart, Murrieta, Calif.; Timothy J. Ryan, Los Gatos, Calif., and Elias A. Zerhouni, Baltimore, Md., assignors to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Cincinnati, Ohio | ||
Reexamination Request No. 90/007,651, Jul. 27, 2005. | ||
Reexamination Certificate for Patent 5,928,164, issued Jul. 27, 1999, Appl. No. 4,737, Jan. 9, 1998. | ||
Continuation of application No. 08/645,225, filed on May 13, 1996, now Pat. No. 5,775,333, which is a division of application No. 08/217,246, filed on Mar. 24, 1994, now Pat. No. 5,526,822. | ||
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer. | ||
Int. Cl. A61B 5/00 (2006.01) |
U.S. Cl. 600—567 |
AS A RESULT OF REEXAMINATION, IT HAS BEEN DETERMINED THAT: |
The patentability of claims 4-14 is confirmed. |
Claims 1-3 are cancelled. |
New claims 15 and 16 are added and determined to be patentable. |
15. A biopsy instrument for obtaining multiple samples of tissue at a biopsy site of a patient, said instrument comprising: a) a housing;
b) a needle having a longitudinal axis, said needle being rotatably attached to said housing near a proximal portion of said needle, said needle further having:
i) a distal end; and
ii) a tissue receiving port in said needle adjacent to the distal end of said needle for receiving a discrete sample of the tissue, said tissue receiving port being positionable to multiple angular positions about the longitudinal axis of said needle for sequentially obtaining the multiple samples of the tissue upon rotation of said needle relative to said housing;
c) a cutter disposed coaxially on the longitudinal axis of said needle, said cutter being movable relative to said needle for severing the multiple samples of the tissue sequentially received in said tissue receiving port of said needle at the multiple angular positions about the longitudinal axis of said needle;
d) a needle rotational transmission in communication with the needle, wherein the needle rotational transmission is operable to rotate the needle relative to the housing to provide the multiple angular positions of the tissue receiving port; and
e) a control unit in communication with the needle rotational transmission, wherein the control unit is operable to cause the needle to rotate relative to the housing, wherein the control unit is further operable to cause the cutter to move relative to the needle.
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