Patent ID: 8172773

Claim:
A biopsy device, comprising: a disposable unit including: a needle carrier configured to move in a first direction and a second direction opposite to the first direction; and a biopsy needle having a cutting element with both the biopsy needle and the cutting element coupled to the needle carrier, a drive part coupled to the cutting element, and a sample chamber in the biopsy needle, the cutting element having a cutting blade, the cutting element being configured to move the cutting blade relative to the sample chamber; and a drive unit configured to receive the disposable unit, the drive unit having a drive member positioned to drive the drive part, the drive unit having a needle-shooting mechanism with a cocked configuration and a released configuration, the needle-shooting mechanism having a spring and a clamping carriage, the clamping carriage being configured to drivably engage the needle carrier; the drive unit having a fixed stop, the drive member configured to drive the drive part against the fixed stop such that the needle carrier is driven in the second direction to compress the spring of the needle-shooting mechanism to move the needle-shooting mechanism to the cocked configuration; the drive unit being configured to move the drive part in the second direction to retract the drive part from the fixed stop when the needle-shooting mechanism is in the cocked configuration; and the drive unit having a user-actuatable control configured to release the needle-shooting mechanism to cause the needle-shooting mechanism to shoot the needle carrier including the biopsy needle simultaneously with the cutting element a distance in the first direction.