Patent ID: 8348827

Claim:
A pouch for capturing tissue resected during a surgical procedure, comprising: a) a flexible barrier pouch, the barrier pouch having first and second ends with a continuous barrier surface extending between the first and second ends, the barrier pouch being configured to define an internal lumen extending between the first and second ends, the first end of the barrier pouch being adapted for securement about the outside of a structural pathway for defining a repeatable surgical pathway to an internal portion of the body in a position that permits communication between the internal lumen of the barrier pouch and an interior passage of a structural pathway; and b) a movable support structure secured to the outside of the structural pathway, the second end of the barrier pouch being connected to the movable support structure, the movable support structure being operative to form an interior lumen in the barrier pouch that is in fluid communication with the pathway structure by longitudinally separating the first and second ends of the barrier pouch as the movable support structure is moved from a first retracted position to a second deployed position, and being further operative to move the second end of the barrier pouch from a first open position creating an opening to the environment external to the barrier pouch to a second closed and sealed position in which the internal lumen of the barrier pouch is sealed and isolated from the environment external to the pouch; further including a retainer for selectively and releasably securing the first end of the barrier pouch about the external end surface of a pathway structure.