Ophthalmologic instrument for producing a fistula in the sclera
OwnerArnold S. Prywesinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An instrument for producing a fistula through a tissue wall of an eye of a patient. The instrument has a housing with a flat blade supported in the housing for penetrating through the tissue wall to form an incised slit in the wall forming a tunnel therein. By rotating the housing and the flat blade a lamellar flap can be formed at the top of the tunnel. The housing contains a second cutting device to remove a large portion of tissue material at the bottom of the tunnel producing an aperture joined to the slit for forming the fistula. The cutting device can be a curved blade having a scoop-shaped cross-section, a punch or an optical fiber capable of transmitting a laser beam. The cutting device is operated while the flat blade remains in the tunnel.
Claims19
An instrument for producing a fistula in a tissue wall of an eye of a patient, said tissue wall having anterior and posterior surfaces, said instrument comprising a housing, a flat blade supported in said housing for movement in its plane for extending from the housing to penetrate the tissue wall of a patient and produce an incised slit in said tissue wall extending through said wall and said anterior and posterior surfaces to form an opening extending through said wall, and tissue excising means carried by said housing, said flat blade being so supported in said housing to lift an upper edge of said slit away from a lower edge of said slit and widen said opening in said tissue wall when said housing is tilted, said tissue excising means being positioned in said housing to enter into said opening, while said flat blade remains in said slit and widens said opening, for excising tissue from only a portion of the thickness of said wall at said lower edge of the slit to said posterior surface, to produce an aperture in said portion of the thickness of said tissue wall to form a fistula in said tissue wall constituted in part by said slit and in part by said aperture joined to said slit, said means for excising tissue comprising a second blade movable in said housing relative to the first said blade to enter said opening while said flat blade remains in said opening, said second blade being shaped to form said aperture by excising tissue from said portion of said wall, and upon removal of said housing from said opening, the excised tissue is removed.
An instrument for producing a fistula in a tissue wall of an eye of a patient, said tissue wall having anterior and posterior surfaces, said instrument comprising a housing which is longitudinally elongated, a flat blade supported in said housing and extending longitudinally from the housing to penetrate the tissue wall of a patient and produce an incised slit in said tissue wall extending through said wall and said anterior and posterior surfaces to form an opening extending completely through said wall, and tissue excising means supported by said housing, said flat blade being in a superior position in said housing and said tissue excising means being in an inferior position in said housing, said housing being manually engageable to tilt said housing while said flat blade is inserted in said slit to lift an upper edge of said slit away from a lower edge of said slit and widen said opening in said tissue wall, said tissue excising means being so positioned in said housing relative to said flat blade to face the widened opening while said blade lifts the upper edge of said slit, for excising tissue from only a portion of the thickness of said wall at said lower edge of the slit to said posterior surface, to produce an aperture only in said portion of the thickness of said tissue wall and form a fistula in said tissue wall constituted in part by said slit and in part by said aperture joined to said slit, said tissue excising means comprising a tissue removal device constructed and arranged so that said aperture which is produced by said tissue excising means is substantially greater in size than said slit and forms the main part of said fistula.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.