Patent ID: 8100823

Claim:
A surgical instrument comprising: a housing that contains a drive system; a distal assembly having a distal tip configured to grind tissue, file tissue, cut tissue, or combinations thereof, said distal assembly extending from said housing and engaging said drive system of said housing; an elongate endoscope comprising an elongate body having an optical element at or adjacent a distal end thereof, the optical element having a line of sight and a field of vision about the line of sight, the line of sight being an imaginary line from the optical element to a point upon which the optical element is focused, the endoscope configured to communicate an image along its length from the optical element to the proximal end of the endoscope body; and an elongate lumen extending through said housing and said distal assembly so that a distal opening of the lumen is positioned proximally adjacent the distal tip, said lumen and said endoscope body being sized and configured so that the elongate body is slidable longitudinally through the lumen to a seated position in which the optical element of said endoscope is positioned at or adjacent the distal tip so as to provide endoscopic viewing of said distal tip; wherein the elongate lumen is straight along its length through the housing and distal assembly, wherein the endoscope body is straight and fits within the straight lumen; wherein the distal assembly has a longitudinal axis, and the distal tip has an axis, and the distal tip axis is disposed at an oblique angle relative to the distal assembly longitudinal axis; wherein the elongate endoscope body has an axis, and the line of sight of the endoscope optical element is disposed at an oblique angle relative to the endoscope body axis; and wherein the elongate endoscope provides viewing of the distal tip.