Patent ID: 8529498

Claim:
A surgical instrument comprising: a distal end adapted to perform a surgical procedure on a patient and a proximal end; a pressure lumen configured and positioned to conduct a liquid from the proximal end towards the distal end of the instrument; a nozzle in fluid communication with the pressure lumen that is shaped to form a liquid jet as the liquid flows therethrough; a channel, having a depth and a length, the length being defined along a longitudinal axis of the channel, the channel including a tissue-contacting portion including a longitudinally-oriented opening to a surrounding environment extending along at least a portion of the length of the channel, the longitudinally-oriented opening having a total effective length, as measured along the length of the channel, and a width, as measured in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the channel, wherein the total effective length of the longitudinally-oriented opening is greater than the width of the longitudinally-oriented opening; and at least one vent aperture in the channel configured and positioned to provide fluid communication between an interior region of the channel and the surrounding environment when the longitudinally-oriented opening of the tissue-contacting portion of the channel is occluded, the vent aperture being configured and positioned to act as a suction break to reduce the level of suction created within the interior region of the channel, wherein the channel is positioned adjacent to and downstream of the nozzle such that the liquid jet, over at least a portion of its length, passes at least one of within the channel and adjacent to the channel, and also passes along a length of at least a portion of the longitudinally-oriented opening of the channel, when the instrument is in operation; and an evacuation lumen comprising a jet-receiving opening that is separate and distinct from the vent aperture and that is located opposite a jet opening of the nozzle and adjacent to and downstream of the channel, wherein the evacuation lumen is constructed and positioned to enable it to collect liquid comprising the liquid jet formed by the nozzle, when the instrument is in operation.