Surgical snare

• US 5,207,686 A
• Filed: 04/15/1992
• Issued: 05/04/1993
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Stuart Dolgin
• Original Assignee: Stuart Dolgin
• Inventors: Dolgin, Stuart
• Primary Examiner(s): Pellegrino, Stephen C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): DAWSON, GLENN K
• Application Number:
  US07/869,522
• Time in Patent Office: 384 Days
• Field of Search: 606/110-113, 606/127, 606/128, 606/45-52, 606/1
• US Class Current: 606/113
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/32056 Surgical snare instruments for removing or smashing calculi A61B2017/2212; tonsillotomes A61B17/26

Abstract

The wire loop of a surgical snare is constructed so as to include a weakened or frangible region. When it is desired to open the loop so as to move it from its entrapped position on a polyp, an additional force is exerted on the loop to draw it further into the sheath. This causes the frangible region to break, thereby opening the loop and permitting the wire to slide free of the polyp. In accordance with an alternate embodiment, the wire loop is constructed so as to fold back on itself, with the folded back end being captured by a retaining element inside the sheath. When the loop becomes entrapped on a polyp, it is extended out of the sheath somewhat further than during normal use, at which point the captured end of the loop is released, opening the loop and permitting its removal from within the patient.

Claims

1. In a surgical snare of the type including a sheath and a wire assembly slidably mounted within the sheath, the wire assembly being moved within the sheath as a result of its being manipulated by a user at a near end thereof, the wire assembly being formed into a loop at a distal end thereof, the improvement comprising means responsive to the manipulation of the near end by the user for causing said loop to become discontinuous, whereby the snare may be removed from a patient when the loop becomes caught on a polyp, said wire loop being formed by doubling an end of the wire back on itself, said means for causing said loop to become discontinuous comprising releasable connecting means for providing an electrical and mechanical connection between said wire loop end and another portion of said wire assembly, including means for releasing said connection in response to said wire assembly being manipulated to slide within said sheath so as to expand out of said sheath beyond a predetermined distance.

2. The surgical snare of claim 1 further comprising means for producing resistance to relative sliding movement between said wire assembly and said sheath when said wire loop approaches said predetermined distance, whereby a user is provided an indication of impending release of said loop.