Endoscopic ultrasonic aspirators

An endoscopic ultrasonic aspirator comprising

• a hollow handpiece;
• an elongated sheath having a hollow bore communicating with the interior of the handpiece and having a working end away from the handpiece;
• a vibration source within the handpiece for producing mechanical vibrations in response to an alternating current supplied to said vibration source,
• means for supplying such alternating current to said vibration source;
• elongated tool means coupled to the vibration source and passing through the hollow bore of the sheath to a work site beyond the working end of the sheath for transmitting such mechanical vibrations to the work site, said tool means including working tip means for contact with the work site;
• viewing means extending from the handpiece to the work site for providing a view from the handpiece of the work site;
• means for supplying fluid to said work site through a fluid space defined between said tool means and said hollow bore of said sheath;
• fluid detection means for detecting the presence of a fluid in the fluid space and connected to the means for supplying alternating current for terminating such supplied alternating current and thereby stopping such mechanical vibrations when such fluid is not present, and
• means for removing said fluid from said work site through conduit means;
• the end of said conduit means nearest the work site formed by said working tip means.

An endoscopic ultrasonic aspirator comprising

• a hollow handpiece;
• an elongated sheath having a hollow bore communicating with the interior of the handpiece and having a working end away from the handpiece,
• a vibration source within the handpiece for producing mechanical vibrations in response to an alternating current supplied to said vibration source,
• means for supplying such alternating current to said vibration source,
• elongated tool means coupled to the vibration source and passing through the hollow bore of the sheath to a work site beyond the working end of the sheath for transmitting such mechanical vibrations to such work site,
• viewing means extending from the handpiece to such work site for providing a view from the handpiece of such work site,
• means for supplying fluid to a fluid space defined between said tool means and said hollow bore of said sheath, and
• fluid detection means for detecting the presence of fluid in the fluid space and connected to the means for supplying alternating current for terminating such supplied alternating current and thereby stopping such mechanical vibrations when such fluid is not present.

An apparatus for removal of unwanted biological material comprising:

• (a) a handpiece;
• (b) an elongated sheath extending from the handpiece and having a hollow bore therethrough,
• (c) vibration means comprising:
• 1. high-frequency vibration source means mounted in the handpiece for vibrating with a selected wavelength and with a first amplitude,
• 2. first velocity transformer means located in the hollow bore within the sheath and spaced therefrom for amplifying vibrations from the vibration source means and having an input section and an output section, the input section being unitary with the vibration source means and the output section being smaller in cross-sectional area than the input section, and
• 3. second velocity transformer means having an input end and an output end, the input end being unitary with the output section of the first velocity transformer means for amplifying vibrations thereof to a sufficient velocity to disintegrate such unwanted biological material and to minimize the production of transverse flexural vibrations, the output end vibrating in response to such received vibrational energy for further transmitting such vibrational energy,
• said second velocity transformer means having a working tip extending beyond the end of the sheath away from the handpiece,
• said high-frequency vibration source means and said two velocity transformer means being elongated and each having a continuous hollow bore extending along a common longitudinal axis thereof, thereby forming
• (i) first fluid passage means in a space defined between the first and second velocity transformer means and the sheath, and
• (ii) second fluid passage means along said common longitudinal axis,
• (d) means for introducing fluid into one of said fluid passage means to irrigate an operating site adjacent the working tip of the second velocity transformer means where such unwanted biological material is distintegrated, and
• (e) means for applying suction to the other of said fluid passage means to remove such fluid and disintegrated unwanted biological material from such operating site.

An endoscopic ultrasonic aspirator comprising:

• a hollow handpiece;
• an elongated sheath having a hallow bore communicating with the interior of the handpiece and having a working end away from the handpiece;
• high-frequency vibration source means mounted in the handpiece said means comprising
• (a) transducer means for generating high-frequency vibrations of a selected wavelength and having a first amplitude,
• (b) vibration amplifying means for receiving the vibrations generated by the transducer means and amplifying said vibrations to ultrasonic vibrations of a frequency of between 10 and 20 KHz, said vibration amplifying means comprising:
• 1. first velocity transformer means of an elongated member having an input end and an output end for amplifying vibrations from said vibration source means, the input end being coupled to the transducer means and the output end vibrating in response to such received vibrations with a second amplitude greater than said first amplitude, and
• 2. second velocity transformer means of an elongated member having an input end and an output end for amplifying vibrations from the first velocity transformer means, the input end being unitary with the output end of the first velocity transformer means to be vibrated thereby and to minimize the production of transverse flexural vibrations, the output end vibrating in response to such received vibrations with the desired frequency while further having a substantially constant mechanical stress level in substantially all its length;
• elongated tool means coupled to the output end of said second velocity transformer means and passing through the hollow bore of the sheath to a work site beyond the working end of the sheath for transmitting the amplified vibrations to said work site for removal or portions of biological material thereof;
• means for aspirating said removed biological material portions from the work site;
• and
• viewing means extending from said handpiece to said work site for providing a view from the handpiece of said work site.

An endoscopic ultrasonic aspirator for the removal of unwanted biological material through a naturally occurring or surgically created opening in the body of a patient comprising:

• handpiece means;
• elongated sheath means extending from said handpiece means and having a hollow bore therethrough;
• unitary vibration generating means having a first portion which is mounted in said handpiece means, a second portion which is located in the hollow bore of said sheath, and a third portion which extends beyond the end of said sheath for generating vibrations having an amplitude sufficient to disintegrate unwanted biological material at a work site in the body of the patient;
• means for irrigating said work site with fluid to assist in the removal of disintegrated biological material;
• aspiration means for removing said disintegrated biological material from said work site;
• and
• means for viewing said work site from said handpiece.