Hard tissue biopsy instrument with rotary drive

Claim 2

A hard tissue biopsy instrument, comprising: a housing; an outer hollow needle carried by said housing to project from one end thereof; an inner hollow needle carried by said housing within said outer hollow needle, said inner hollow needle being rotatably and axially movable with respect to said outer hollow needle; the outer hollow needle having a sharpened outer cutting tip, and the inner hollow needle having an outer milling tip; a manually presettable limit for manually presetting the axial movement of the inner milling-tip needle with respect to the outer cutting-tip needle; and a drive for rotating said inner milling-tip needle within said outer cutting-tip needle and for moving said inner milling-tip needle outwardly of said outer cutting-tip needle according to said manually-preset limit.

Claim 3

The instrument according to claim 1 wherein said housing includes an inner tubular section, and said presettable limit includes a sleeve manually rotatable on said inner tubular section to preset the relative axial movement of the inner hollow needle with respect to the outer hollow needle

Claim 4

The instrument according to claim 2, wherein said outer hollow needle is attachable to a second sleeve mounted for non-rotatable axial movement with respect to said inner tubular section of the housing.

Claim 5

The instrument according to claim 3, wherein both of said sleeves are formed with abuttable ends of helical configuration such that manual rotation of the first-mentioned sleeve changes the gap between said abuttable ends of the two sleeves and thereby presets the relative axial movement of the inner hollow needle with respect to the outer hollow needle.

Claim 6

The instrument according to claim 3, further including a presettable penetration means at said one end of the housing and engageable with the subject's skin for presetting the penetration of the outer hollow needle through the subject's skin.

Claim 7

The instrument according to claim 5, wherein said presettable penetration means comprises a cap presettable along the longitudinal axis of said second sleeve.

Claim 8

The instrument according to claim 6, wherein said cap further includes a clamping member manually movable from a clamping position with respect to said outer hollow needle clamping same to said second sleeve, or to a releasing position with respect to said outer hollow needle for releasing same from said second sleeve.

Claim 9

The instrument according to claim 7, wherein said cap is formed with a plurality of notches spaced axially thereof, and wherein said clamping member is receivable in one of said notches for presetting the axial position of said cap with respect to said second sleeve.

Claim 10

The instrument according to claim 7, wherein said outer hollow needle includes an enlarged head, and said clamping member includes a socket engageable with said enlarged head in the clamping position of the clamping member.

Claim 11

The instrument according to claim 1, wherein said inner hollow needle is detachably coupled to one end of a coupling member rotatably supported within said housing, the other end of said rotatable coupling member being detachably coupled to said rotary drive.

Claim 12

The instrument according to Claim 10, wherein said rotatable coupling member is formed with a non-circular socket at one end receiving a complementary non-circular plug at the respective end of said inner hollow needle, the opposite end of said rotary coupling member being formed with a hexagonal plug received in a hexagonal socket of said rotary drive.

Claim 13

A hard tissue biopsy instrument, comprising: a housing; an outer hollow needle attachable to said housing to project from one end thereof and having a sharpened outer, cutting tip; an inner hollow needle attachable to said housing within said outer hollow needle, and having an outer milling tip, said inner hollow needle being rotatably and axially movable with respect to said outer hollow needle; a manually presettable limit for manually presetting the axial movement of the inner milling-tip needle with respect to the outer cutting-tip needle; presettable penetration means at said one end of the housing engageable with the subject's skin for presetting the penetration of the outer hollow needle through the subject's skin; and a drive for rotating said inner milling-tip needle within said outer cutting-tip needle and for moving said inner milling-tip needle outwardly of said outer cutting-tip needle according to said manually-preset limit.

Claim 14

A hard tissue biopsy instrument, comprising: a housing; an outer hollow needle attachable to said housing to project from one end thereof and having a sharpened outer, cutting tip; an inner hollow needle attachable to said housing within said outer hollow needle, and having an outer milling tip, said inner hollow needle being rotatably and axially movable with respect to said outer hollow needle; a manually presettable limit for manually presetting the axial movement of the inner milling-tip needle with respect to the outer cutting-tip needle; presettable penetration means at said one end of the housing engageable with the subject's skin for presetting the penetration of the outer hollow needle through the subject's skin; and a drive for rotating said inner milling-tip needle within said outer cutting-tip needle and for moving said inner milling-tip needle outwardly of said outer cutting-tip needle according to said manually-preset limit.

Claim 15

The instrument according to claim 12 wherein said housing includes an inner tubular section, and said presettable limit includes a sleeve manually rotatable on said inner tubular section to preset the relative axial movement of the inner hollow needle with respect to the outer hollow needle.

Claim 16

The instrument according to claim 13 wherein said outer hollow needle is attachable to a second sleeve mounted for non-rotatable axial movement with respect to said inner tubular section of the housing.

Claim 17

The instrument according to claim 14, wherein both of said sleeves are formed with abuttable ends of helical configuration such that manual rotation of the first-mentioned sleeve changes the gap between said abuttable ends of the two sleeves and thereby presets the relative axial movement of the inner hollow needle with respect to the outer hollow needle.

Claim 18

The instrument according to claim 12 wherein said presettable penetration means comprises a cap presettable along the longitudinal axis of said second sleeve.