Patent ID: 7367983

Claim:
A vessel harvesting apparatus comprising: an elongated slender shaft and an enlarged tip formed as a unit with, and positioned at a distal end of, said shaft; a handle connected to, and laterally extending from a proximal end of, said shaft for allowing an operator to feed and manipulate said tip over and along a vessel; said tip including a vessel receiving aperture extending substantially longitudinally through said tip, said aperture having a longitudinal axis which is laterally offset from a longitudinal axis of said shaft, said tip having a smooth, contoured substantially uninterrupted outer surface gradually and smoothly narrowing toward a distal end of said tip and terminating at a substantially uniform radius around the axis of said aperture, wherein said tip may be passed along a vessel with the vessel positioned within said aperture without substantial disruption of surrounding tissue; means for transecting and ligating the vessel positioned in said aperture; means for transecting and ligating side branch vessels extending laterally from the vessel; said tip releasing the vessel from surrounding tissue while being moved therealong wherein a transfected portion of the vessel is more easily removed from surrounding tissue.