Patent ID: 6264668
Filing Date: 2001-07-24
Classification: A61B,A61F

Abstract:
An instrument for producing a fistula in a tissue wall of an eye of a patient, said tissue wall having anterior and posterior surfaces, said instrument comprising a housing, a flat blade supported in said housing for movement in its plane for extending from the housing to penetrate the tissue wall of a patient and produce an incised slit in said tissue wall extending through said wall and said anterior and posterior surfaces to form an opening extending through said wall, and tissue excising means carried by said housing, said flat blade being so supported in said housing to lift an upper edge of said slit away from a lower edge of said slit and widen said opening in said tissue wall when said housing is tilted, said tissue excising means being positioned in said housing to enter into said opening, while said flat blade remains in said slit and widens said opening, for excising tissue from only a portion of the thickness of said wall at said lower edge of the slit to said posterior surface, to produce an aperture in said portion of the thickness of said tissue wall to form a fistula in said tissue wall constituted in part by said slit and in part by said aperture joined to said slit, said means for excising tissue comprising a second blade movable in said housing relative to the first said blade to enter said opening while said flat blade remains in said opening, said second blade being shaped to form said aperture by excising tissue from said portion of said wall, and upon removal of said housing from said opening, the excised tissue is removed.