Surgical snare

Claim 1

A surgical instrument having a snare in the form of a loop useful in performing colonoscopic polypectomy comprising: (a) an elongated flexibly bendable open ended sheath having proximal and distal ends; (b) a folded on itself flexible cable positioned in said sheath and capable of being reciprocatingly moved therein whereby a portion of the folded cable describes a loop and is capable of being selectively advanced to extend beyond the distal end of the sheath; (c) an elongated housing means having cable receiving means; (d) said sheath having its proximal end secured to said elongated housing and in alignment with said cable receiving means; (e) said double cable being of sufficient length whereby end portions of said cable extend beyond the proximal end of said sheath and into said cable receiving means in said housing means; (f) two linear drive means for said folded on itself cable, each including an elongated rigid longitudinally movable means each having handle means; (g) guide means on said housing adapted and constructed to permit independent reciprocating motion of each of said elongated rigid longitudinally movable means; (h) one end portion of said cable being attached to one of said elongated rigid longitudinally movable means of said linear drive means and the other end portion of said cable being attached to the other of said elongated longitudinally movable means of said linear drive means whereby movement of said elongated rigid longitudinally movable means will selectively advance or withdraw said cable through the distal end of said sheath thereby controlling the size of the loop and relative movement of one of said elongated rigid longitudinally movable means relative to the other will control the configuration of the loop and selective means is provided whereby said two linear drive means may be locked together so that said linear drive means may be moved in unison.