Patent ID: 7905841

Claim:
A device for acquiring tissue samples, comprising: a sheath defining a lumen; a catheter extending within the lumen of the sheath; a wire matrix fixedly connected to a distal portion of the catheter, so that the catheter does not extend distally past the wire matrix, wherein the wire matrix and the sheath are moveable relative to each other between a first position and a second position, the first position being an expanded configuration of the wire matrix outside the lumen and the second position being a collapsed configuration of the wire matrix within the lumen, the wire matrix defining a plurality of spaces between wires of the wire matrix; and a covering on an outer surface of the wire matrix extending from a proximal-most end of the wire matrix to substantially an entire length of the wire matrix, wherein the covering covers substantially all of the plurality of spaces in the wire matrix, and wherein the device is configured to obtain the tissue samples by scraping an outer surface of the covering against a tissue site, wherein substantially all of the tissue samples obtained by the wire matrix are collected on the outer surface of the covering, and wherein the device does not include any structure disposed within the wire matrix for collapsing the wire matrix.