Patent ID: 7503920

Claim:
A tunneling system for forming an arcuate tunnel through biological tissue, the tunneling system comprising: (a) a rigid delivery conduit having an inner channel and an open end, at least part of said inner channel being substantially straight; and (b) a tunneling device for deploying within said inner channel and advancing beyond said open end, at least a distal portion of said tunneling device being formed from a series of substantially rigid elements interconnected at pivotal interconnection regions having parallel effective hinge axes, said interconnection regions being configured to transfer compressive forces between adjacent of said elements, each of said elements further including at least one contact surface disposed for abutting a corresponding region of an adjacent one of said elements so as to define a maximum deflection of relative pivotal motion between adjacent of said elements, such that, when said distal portion is deployed within said inner channel, at least part of said distal portion is limited by said rigid delivery conduit to a substantially straight state with said contact surfaces and said corresponding regions separated and, as said distal portion is advanced beyond said open end into said biological tissue, said elements are deflected to said maximum deflection so that a part of said distal portion beyond said open end assumes a pre-defined substantially arcuate state while another part of said distal portion remaining within said delivery conduit is maintained in said substantially straight state.