Patent ID: 7766927

Claim:
A surgical tool for forming a self-sealing flap in tissue of a wall of a hollow organ during a procedure for extracting a tissue block from the wall, the surgical tool comprising a tool head including: (a) an elongated support element having a direction of elongation and configured for insertion along a first slit parallel to said direction of elongation into the tissue of the wall; (b) a blade element pivotally mounted on said support element so as to be pivotable about an axis perpendicular to said direction of elongation, said blade element including a rear blade with at least one deflecting feature configured for forming a second slit diverging from said first slit during withdrawal of the tool along the first slit, thereby forming a self-sealing flap in the tissue of the wall; wherein a plane passing through said support element parallel to both said direction of elongation and said axis is referred to as a tool plane, and wherein said blade element is mounted on said support element via a lever mechanism, said lever mechanism being configured to allow displacement of said blade element from an in-plane position in which said axis lies substantially within said tool plane to an out-of-plane position in which said axis is displaced so as to be parallel to, but removed from, said tool plane; and wherein said lever mechanism includes a pair of lever arms each having a first end pivotally engaged with said support and a second end pivotally engaged with said blade element.