Patent ID: 8062230

Claim:
A method of marking a biopsy site using a marker delivery system in combination with a tissue cutting device, comprising the steps of: positively attaching a tube guide to a non-working end of a tissue cutting device such that the tube guide is selectively and fixedly secured to the tissue device, wherein a portion of the tube guide is received in a cavity formed in the non-working end of the tissue cutting device, but the tube guide does not extend into a channel that is in communication with the cavity, the channel extending through the tissue cutting device; wherein the tube guide is provided with a channel therein, and once the tube guide and the tissue cutting device are positively attached together, an end face of the channel of the tube guide directly contacts and aligns with an end face of the channel in the tissue device, such that the end face of the channel of the tube guide and the end face of the channel of the tissue cutting device abut to form a single integrated channel having a constant diameter, wherein the single integrated channel defines a continuous and uninterrupted pathway through the tube guide and the tissue cutting device, and where the cavity formed in the non-working end of the tissue cutting device is configured for aligning the channel of the tube guide with the channel of the tissue cutting device; wherein the single integrated channel that defines the continuous and uninterrupted pathway from the tube guide to the channel of the tissue cutting device by way of the channel of the tube guide, maintains the orientation between the marker delivery system and the tissue cutting device; sliding a tube through the single integrated channel that defines the continuous and uninterrupted pathway formed by the channel of the tube guide and the channel of the tissue cutting device toward a distal end of the tissue cutting device; aligning an aperture of the tube with an aperture formed proximate the distal end in a sidewall of the tissue cutting device while the tissue cutting device is positioned in a body; and depositing a marker seated in a lumen of the tube at the biopsy site by advancing a push rod through the channel of the tube guide and the lumen of the tube toward a distal end of the tube until the marker is discharged from the lumen through the aperture of the tube formed therein and through the aperture of the tissue cutting device.