Patent ID: 7122017
Filing Date: 2006-10-17
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
1. A device comprising: a surgical instrument having a distal end adapted to perform a surgical procedure on a patient and a proximal end adapted to be controllable by an operator, the instrument including a pressure lumen having sufficient burst strength to conduct a high pressure liquid towards the distal end of the instrument, the pressure lumen including at least one nozzle providing a jet opening; and an evacuation lumen, including a jet-receiving opening having a cross-sectional area and locatable opposite the jet opening at a predetermined distance therefrom to receive a liquid jet when the instrument is in operation; the nozzle being shaped to form a liquid jet as a liquid at high pressure flows therethrough, the liquid jet creating an entrainment region of moving liquid such that essentially all of the moving liquid in the entrainment region is directed into the jet-receiving opening when the instrument is in operation; the cross-sectional area of the jet-receiving opening and the predetermined distance being selected so that the entrainment region occupies between 50% and 100% of the cross-sectional area of the jet-receiving opening when the instrument is in operation; and wherein an axis defining a direction of at least a central region of the liquid jet and a longitudinal axis of the proximal end of the surgical instrument are non-parallel to each other when the instrument is in operation.