Patent ID: 7429264

Claim:
A cutting instrument, comprising: a handle assembly; an actuating assembly extending distally from said handle assembly along a longitudinal axis; a cutting system operably coupled to said actuating assembly, said cutting system including a pair of cutting members mounted in a mounting portion and movable with said actuating assembly from an undeployed position to a deployed position by displacing said cutting members distally along said longitudinal axis, said pair of cutting members each including at least one cutting blade for removing tissue material upon rotation about said longitudinal axis when in said deployed position, wherein in said undeployed position said cutting blades are recessed in said mounting portion and in said deployed position said cutting members are moved away from one another by said actuating system transversely to said longitudinal axis while maintaining a parallel relation between said at least one cutting blade of said cutting members, wherein each of said cutting members includes: a body portion extending along a longitudinal axis between a proximal end and a distal end, wherein said distal end of said body portion includes a tapered nose; said cutting blade extends along one side of said body portion between said proximal end and said distal end and includes a sharp edge extending along said longitudinal axis that faces away from the cutting blade of the other of said cutting members; and said body portion includes a distal passage positioned closer to said distal end than said proximal end and oriented transversely to said longitudinal axis of said body portion and a proximal passage oriented transversely to said longitudinal axis of said body portion and further comprising pins extending through each of said proximal and distal passages to mount said body portion to said mounting portion.