Patent ID: 8517956

Claim:
A biopsy device, comprising: a flexible coaxial structure, comprising: a sheath; a guidewire within the sheath, having a control end and a sampling end, the guidewire being axially displaceable with respect to the sheath by a force applied to the guidewire with respect to the sheath at the control end, and defining a space between the guidewire and the sheath over the length of the flexible coaxial structure, the sampling end having: a terminal region having flexible bristles, the flexible bristles being configured in an extended state to displace mucous and dislodge a cellular sample from an inner surface of an endometrial cavity, having a diameter larger than the sheath, and in a retracted state a flexed bristle diameter that permits withdrawal into the sheath, a sampling space without bristles distal to the terminal end, and a suction element distal to the sampling space having a fixed position with respect to the guidewire, and a close clearance with respect to an inner surface of the sheath, configured such that a retraction of the guidewire into the sheath by a relative movement of the guidewire in the sheath at the control end, after dislodging the cellular sample, draws by suction at least a portion of the dislodged cellular sample into the sample space before flexible bristles are withdrawn into the sheath and flexed.