Forceps Assembly For Removing Cellular Tissue From The Body Cavities

Abstract

A forceps assembly has a forceps holder attached to the end of a flexible tube and a pair of scissors opened and closed by a wire running through said flexible tube, at least one of the opposing blades of the scissors having a clamp member for clamping a piece of cellular tissue to be scissored between the clamp member and the other of the scissor blades.

Description

The present invention relates to a forceps assembly in use for removing cellular tissue from the inner walls of the body cavities.

In recent years, pieces of tissues are extracted from various body walls for medical examination. Practically, a forceps is inserted together with an endoscope deep into the body cavity and cuts and removes off the body walls tissue pieces necessary for examination, for instance, polyps. The forceps now in practical use are the so-called cap-forceps, each comprised of a pair of cups which are swung open and put together. The cup-forceps, however, tear cellular tissue bit by bit away from the body walls and inevitably make the tissue removal difficult and time-consuming.

The object of the present invention is to provide a forceps which can cut and clamp a relatively large piece of cellular tissue.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The forceps assembly according to the present invention comprises a forceps holder attached to the end of a flexible tube, a pair of seissors held by said forceps holder and constituted by a pair of blades opened and closed by a wire running through said flexible tube, and at least one clamp member protruding from the back of one of said paired blades for clamping a piece of cut off cellular tissue between the clamp member and the other of the pair of scissor blades.

The present invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 with its scissors in the opened state; and

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view of the embodiment of

FIG. 1 with its scissors in the closed state.

The structure and function of the forceps assembly according to the present invention will be more fully understood with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

A flexible tube 11 is made of a spiraled plastic wire or tape covered with a plastic layer or layers, and has a wire 22 running therethrough. A forceps holder 12 is attached to said flexible tube 11. Fixed to forceps holder 12 are a pair of support plates 13 in parallel to each other, between the front portions of which a pair of scissors 17 made of opposing blades 15 and 16 are pivotally disposed by a pin 14. A connector 18 is so disposed in forceps holder 12 as to slide back and forth therethrough and is connected to the end of wire 22. A pair of link members 19 and 20 are pivoted on the tip of connector 18 at one end and on respective blades 15 and 16 at the other end. Consequently, a pair of scissors 17 are opened and closed as wire 22 is moved through flexible tube 11.

Either said blade 15 or 16 -- blade 16 in FIGS. 2 and 3 -- has a clamp member 23 having an L-shaped section and protruding from the back of the blade. In this clamp member 23 there is perforated a window 24, which helps prevent any damage to the clamped cellular tissue that would otherwise be inevitable.

The forceps assembly according to the present invention is manipulated in the following manner to, for example, remove a polyp 26 as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3 from the body wall 25.

First, the forceps assembly is inserted into the body cavity until its pair of scissors 17 come into contact with the polyp 26 to be cut and removed. Secondly, the pair of scissors 17 are swung open by the push of wire 12 and blades 15 and 16 are so moved as to sandwich the neck of polyp 36. Thirdly, the pair of scissors 17 are closed to cut the neck of polyp 26, which is simultaneously clamped and held steady between blade 15 and clamp member 23. Finally the, forceps assembly is withdrawn from the body cavity with polyp 26 clamped steady between blade 15 and clamp member 23.

By virtue of the clamp member 23 attached to one of the blades 15 and 16, polyp 26 is held so firmly by the pair of scissors 17 that it never slips out of the pair of scissors 17 while it is being extracted from the body cavity. Thus, the forceps assembly according to this invention can remove without fail pieces of cellular tissue from the body cavities.

The embodiment of this invention described above is provided with a single clamp member with a window on one of the scissor blades. If preferable or necessary, each scissor blade is provided with a clamp member, which may or may not have a window.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A forceps assembly attached to one end of a flexible tube with a wire running therethrough for removing cellular tissue from body cavities, comprising:

a forceps holder attached to the end of said flexible tube;

a pair of scissors held by said forceps holder, having a pair of cutting blades which are opened and closed respectively by push and pull of said wire, said blades having respective inner surfaces cooperating to serve as said scissors, and respective outer surfaces; and

means for clamping severed cellular tissue including at least one clamp member protruding from the back of one of said blades, said clamp member being cantilevered and extending in a direction toward the other of said blades and adjacent the outer surface of said other blade and cooperating with the outer surface of said other blade so as to clamp a piece of cellular tissue cut by said pair of scissors between said cantilevered clamp member and the outer surface of said other blade.

2. A forceps assembly according to claim 1 wherein said clamp member has a window therein for lessening the pressure exerted on the clamped piece of cellular tissue.

3. A forceps assembly according to claim 1 comprising a pair of link members respectively pivotally connected to said pair of blades, said link members being coupled to said wire for respectively opening and closing said blades by push and pull of said wire.

4. A forceps assembly according to claim 1 comprising at least one support plate fixedly connected to said forceps holder, said scissor blades being pivotally connected to said at least one support plate; and a pair of link members respectively coupled to said pair of scissor blades, said link members being pivotally coupled to said wire.

5. A forceps assembly according to claim 1 wherein said at least one clamp member has a generally L-shaped cross-section.

6. A forceps assembly according to claim 1 wherein the combination of said at least one clamp member and said one of said blades has a portion having a generally U-shaped cross-section.