Patent ID: 11903569
Assignee: URO-1, INC.
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 0:
1. A biopsy instrument comprising:
a tubular cannula that extends along a longitudinal axis and has an inside wall and a sharp distal end;
a core collector that fits in the cannula for motion relative thereto inside the cannula along said axis and has a sharp distal tip and a cradle portion extending proximally from the sharp tip along said axis;
wherein said cannula and core collector are configured to move linearly relative to each other along said axis between (i) a first relative position in which the cannula is proximal from at least a portion of said cradle portion and said cradle portion protrudes distally from the cannula, for a tissue sample to enter said cradle portion, and (ii) a second relative position in which said cannula has moved distally relative to said core collector to thereby sever said tissue sample from surrounding tissue and said cradle portion is surrounded by the cannula;
wherein said cradle portion of the core collector has a convex bottom surface and an upper surface with side walls forming said cradle portion;
wherein said side walls of the core collector in an axial view extend over a sufficiently large arc to keep the core collector centered in the cannula to keep the bottom surface of the core collector against the inside wall of the cannula, and to thereby resist bending or deflection of a portion of the core collector that extends distally from the cannula during linear relative movement of the cannula and core collector both from the first to the second and from the second to the first relative positions thereof;
wherein said side walls of the core collector comprise rows of teeth, with the teeth of each of said rows spaced from each other along said axis; and
wherein said teeth are configured to engage tissue that has entered said cradle portion while the core collector is protruding distally from the cannula in said first relative position and, as the cannula moves distally over the cradle to the second relative position, to keep said tissue from distorting as the cannula severs a tissue sample from surrounding tissue, thereby maintaining structural integrity of the tissue sample along said axis.