Patent ID: 8398566

Claim:
A biopsy needle for collecting a tissue specimen comprising: a handle including a handle body that defines a hollow interior that includes a hollow inner housing member in the form of a sleeve; a cannula assembly including an inner cannula and an outer cannula that surrounds at least a portion of the inner cannula, the inner cannula having a snarecoil coil at a distal end that is attached to the outer cannula, the inner cannula and outer cannula being coupled to one another so that the two cannulas move together in a longitudinal direction, at least a portion of the cannula assembly being received in the handle body, wherein the inner cannula is disposed within the hollow inner housing member; a first biasing element that is coupled to the cannula assembly for applying a force thereto when stored energy of the first biasing element is released to cause forward projection of the cannula assembly; a first mechanism having a first component associated with a proximal end of the inner cannula that is received within the inner housing member and a second component associated with the inner housing member and complementary to the first component to cause controlled rotation of the inner cannula relative to the outer cannula after the cannula assembly is projected a predetermined distance, wherein the inner housing member includes a member projecting outwardly therefrom, the member being received within a slot formed along an inner surface of the handle body, the slot having a first closed end and an opposing second closed end closer to the outer cannula, the slot being formed of a first slot section and a second slot section that are linearly disposed along a longitudinal axis of the handle body that extends through the handle body from one end to other, and a third slot section that connects and is located intermediate the first and second slot sections, the first, second and third slot sections defining a continuous slot formed in the handle body, the slot being formed such that as the member moves longitudinally therealong, the member moves in different slot sections as the member moves in the direction of the second end of the slot and the inner housing member changes its orientation relative to the inner cannula, thereby initiating the controlled rotation of the inner cannula relative to the outer cannula; and an actuator operably coupled to the cannula assembly to selectively release the energy stored in the first biasing element and cause the forward projection of the cannula assembly and the subsequent rotation of the inner cannula relative to the outer cannula to cause activation of the snarecoil.