Patent ID: 7431711

Claim:
A surgical instrument comprising: a distal end adapted to perform a surgical procedure on a patient and a proximal end; a pressure lumen configured and positioned to conduct a liquid from the proximal end towards the distal end of the instrument; a nozzle in fluid communication with the pressure lumen that is shaped to form a liquid jet as the liquid flows therethrough; and an elongated channel, having a depth and a length, the length being measured along a longitudinal axis of the channel, the channel including a longitudinally-oriented opening to a surrounding environment extending along at least a portion of the length of the channel, the longitudinally-oriented opening having a total effective length, as measured along the length of the channel, and a width, as measured in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the channel; and an adjustment mechanism to adjust a selected separation distance between a centerline of the nozzle and at least one of a bottommost inner surface of the channel and a tissue contacting portion of the channel that includes the longitudinally-oriented opening therein so as to achieve a desired depth of cutting and/or ablation of the tissue with the fluid comprising the fluid jet emitted from the nozzle, wherein the total effective length of the longitudinally-oriented opening exceeds the maximum width of the longitudinally-oriented opening by at least about a factor of four, and wherein the channel is positioned adjacent to and downstream of the nozzle such that the liquid jet, over at least a portion of its length, passes at least one of within the channel and adjacent to the channel, and also passes along the length of at least a portion of the longitudinally-oriented opening of the channel, when the instrument is in operation.