Patent ID: 7771435

Claim:
A surgical instrument for use with an endoscope having a working channel to fragment and extract stones from a patient, said surgical instrument comprising, in combination: an outer sheath having a proximal end, a distal end, and a basket therebetween; wherein the basket is sized for entrapping the stones and located near the distal end of the outer sheath; wherein the outer sheath and the basket are formed unitarily as a single body of continuous material; wherein the basket transforms between an expanded condition forming a hollow interior space for capturing the stones and a collapsed condition having a profile sized smaller than the expanded condition for insertion of the basket into the patient and withdrawal of the basket from the patient; wherein a periphery of the basket has a plurality of spaced apart openings sized and shaped for passage of the stones into the interior space when in the expanded condition; an inner core longitudinally extending through the outer sheath and into the hollow interior and longitudinally movable relative to the outer sheath; wherein the inner core has a proximal end and a free distal end, wherein the free distal end is unsecured to the outer sheath; wherein longitudinal movement of the inner core relative to the outer sheath transforms the basket from the expanded condition to the collapsed condition; wherein the distal end of the outer sheath is provided with an opening so that the free distal end of the inner core can move through the opening and past the distal end of the outer sheath wherein the outer sheath has an outer surface sized and shaped for close passage through the working channel and into a lumen or cavity of the patient; and wherein the outer sheath is the radially outermost component of the instrument such that passage through the working channel directly acts on the outer surface of the sheath.