Miniature shredding tool for use in medical applications and methods for making

A medical device for removing tissue from a subject, comprising:

• a distal housing assembly comprising a distal housing and a plurality of rotatable members located at least partially within the distal housing, each of the rotatable members comprising at least one disc-shaped blade having a series of teeth along an outer circumference of the blade, each blade lying in a plane parallel and offset to a plane of another blade, each blade being directly adjacent to at least one other blade and positioned to partially overlap the adjacent blade such that tissue may be sheared between the adjacent, overlapping blades, the rotatable members configured to rotate and direct tissue from a target tissue site of the subject into an interior portion of the distal housing for further processing of the tissue, wherein the rotatable members are configured to cooperate together to shred the tissue inside the distal housing;
• an elongate member having a distal end coupled to the distal housing;
• and
• an actuation member having a distal end coupled to a proximal end of the elongate member,
• wherein the actuation member, elongate member and distal housing assembly form a surgical instrument that is configured to allow an operator to move the distal housing assembly to a surgical site that comprises the target tissue of the subject, and
• wherein the elongate member comprises an irrigation lumen configured to supply irrigation fluid distally through the elongate member to the surgical site.