Patent ID: 8506504

Claim:
A biopsy device for percutaneous removal of a specimen from a tissue mass, the biopsy device comprising: a housing having a proximal end and a distal end; a sample size control assembly for selecting a size of the specimen to be collected comprising: an adjusting member provided within the housing; a nose rotatably mounted to the housing and projecting from the distal end; and a throw stop coupled to the adjusting member; a cannula defining a lumen having a distal end and extending through the nose; a cannula carriage provided within the housing for movement relative to the housing and coupled to the cannula; a stylet having a notch and extending through the lumen; a stylet carriage provided within the housing for movement relative to the housing, and coupled to the stylet; and a firing assembly carried by the housing and operably coupled to the cannula and stylet carriages, wherein the firing assembly is configured to relatively move the cannula and the stylet from an armed position, where the cannula and stylet carriages are spaced from the throw stop and the cannula covers the notch, through an intermediate position, where the stylet carriage abuts the throw stop and the notch extends at least partially beyond the distal end of the cannula, and to a fired position, where both the cannula and stylet carriages abut the throw stop and the cannula covers the notch; wherein the stylet travels a distance between the armed position and the intermediate position, the distance defining a throw distance that is related to the specimen size and the nose is operably coupled to the adjusting member such that rotation of the nose actuates the adjusting member to move the throw stop within the housing to adjust the throw distance, and thereby adjust the specimen size.