Patent ID: 8308718

Claim:
A cryosurgical instrument comprising: a probe for guiding a probe head on to a biological tissue to be treated, the probe being mounted in a support means, the probe head being blunt; and gas conduits for delivery of coolant gas to the probe head, wherein the probe head is operable to collect a tissue sample by cooling a limited region of the tissue by gas delivery and separating the tissue sample from surrounding tissue in a state in which it is frozen on the probe head by means of a pulling force, which acts on the frozen tissue via the probe head, and wherein the support means and probe are configured to position the support means on a tissue surrounding the frozen tissue and to be moved relative to each other in such a way that the support means exerts a counter-force on the surrounding tissue, while the frozen tissue on the probe head is pulled via the probe, such that surrounding tissue can be supported by the support means during separation of the tissue sample, wherein a positioning edge enclosing an opening of the support means on a distal end of the support means is blunt in design for coming into contact with the tissue to be treated.