Apparatus for the percutaneous marking of a lesion

Surgery – Instruments – Cutting – puncturing or piercing

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Reexamination Certificate

active

06575991

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to an apparatus for the percutaneous positioning of a radiopaque marker for identifying the location of a lesion in a stereotactic biopsy procedure. More particularly, the invention relates to an introducer having a hollow cannula in combination with a movable stylet and a radiopaque marker disposed within the cannula and ejected from it by movement of the stylet.
2. Related Art
Tissue biopsies are commonly performed on many areas and organs of the body where it is desirable to ascertain whether or not the biopsied tissue is cancerous. Often, a lesion or other tissue to be biopsied is identified through use of an imaging technique such as a computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan, ultrasonography, and mammography.
One problem commonly encountered, especially in breast biopsies, is that the lesion is so small that the biopsy reduces its size to the extent that it is no longer visible by the imaging method employed. In such circumstances, it is desirable to place a radiopaque marker at the site of the biopsy to enable the medical practitioner subsequently to locate the lesion quickly and accurately in the event complete removal of the affected tissue is indicated. This problem is currently met by placing a radiopaque marker at the biopsy area by means of a cannula or similar device housing the marker.
More particularly, one of the markers heretofore in use is a staple-type clip. The clip is introduced through a large-diameter cannula, specifically one of 11 gauge.
Some practitioners employ an embolization coil as a marker. This requires them to find a cannula or hollow needle of a size to receive the coil and some means to force the coil through the needle, all the while trying to keep these components together and sterile.
Prior devices for marking a biopsy area have several other disadvantages. A significant disadvantage is that the marker is not always completely ejected from the cannula or can be drawn back into or toward the cannula by the vacuum created upon the withdrawal of the cannula, which results in the marker being moved from the intended site, leading to inaccurate identification of the location of the biopsy area. A second major disadvantage is that current markers have a tendency to migrate within the tissue, also causing error in determining the biopsy location.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a biopsy marking apparatus for the percutaneous placement of a marker at a biopsy site in a tissue mass to facilitate subsequent determination of the location of the biopsy site. The biopsy marking apparatus comprises an introducer having a handle to be grasped by a user, a cannula, a stylet, and a radiopaque marker. The cannula has a proximal end mounted to the handle and a distal end defining an insertion tip. The stylet is slidably received within the cannula for movement between a ready position in which a distal end of the stylet is spaced inwardly from the cannula tip to form a marker recess between the distal end of the stylet and the cannula tip, and an extended position in which the distal end of the stylet extends at least to the cannula tip to effectively fill the marker recess.
A plunger is movably mounted to the handle and operably engages the stylet, the plunger being movable between a first position and a second position for moving the stylet between the ready position and the extended position.
A latch is provided for fixing the stylet in the extended position to prevent retraction of the stylet from that position.
A radiopaque marker is disposed within the marker recess, whereby, when the plunger is moved between the first and second positions, the stylet is moved from the ready to the extended position to eject the radiopaque marker from the marker recess, and the latch fixes the stylet in the extended position to prevent the return of the marker to the marker recess.
The latch preferably comprises a detent on either the plunger or the handle and a catch on the other, the catch being receivable within the detent as the plunger is moved from the first to the second position.
In another aspect, the invention also provides a radiopaque marker having a marker body and an anchor extending away from the body for fixing the location of the radiopaque marker in a tissue mass by the tissue mass prolapsing about the anchor. Preferably, the body has an interior hollow portion forming an air trap to enhance the ultrasound characteristic of the radiopaque marker.
Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the ensuing description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4401124 (1983-08-01), Guess et al.
patent: 4682606 (1987-07-01), DeCaprio
patent: 5195540 (1993-03-01), Shiber
patent: 5242759 (1993-09-01), Hall
patent: 5354623 (1994-10-01), Hall
patent: 5417708 (1995-05-01), Hall et al.
patent: 5853366 (1998-12-01), Dowlatshahi
patent: 6056700 (2000-05-01), Burney et al.
patent: 6142955 (2000-11-01), Farascioni et al.
patent: 6161034 (2000-12-01), Burbank et al.
patent: 6213957 (2001-04-01), Milliman et al.
patent: 6228055 (2001-05-01), Foerster et al.
patent: 6241687 (2001-06-01), Voegele et al.
patent: 6261243 (2001-07-01), Burney et al.
patent: 6336904 (2002-01-01), Nikolchev
patent: 6371904 (2002-04-01), Sirimanne et al.
patent: 10 29 528 (1958-05-01), None
patent: 0 769 280 (1997-04-01), None
patent: 0 769 281 (1997-04-01), None
patent: WO 96 08208 (1996-03-01), None
patent: WO 00 28554 (2000-05-01), None
Press release for Biopsys Ethicon Endo-Surgery (Europed) GmbH, The Mammotone Vacuum Biopsy System. From http://www.medicine-news.com. 3 pages.
Steps in MMOTOME Surgical Procedure. From http://www.jnjgateway.com. 3 pages.
New Minimally Invasive Breast Biopsy Device Receives Marketing Clearance in Canada. From http://www.jun.com. 4 pages.
Mammotome Hand Held Receives FDA Marketing Clearance for Minimally Invasive Breast Biopsies. From http://www.jnj.com. 5 pages.
Percutaneous Removal of Malignant Mammographic Lesions at Stereotactic Vacuum-assisted Biopsy. From the Departments of Radiology, Pathology, and Surgery; Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; from the 1997 RSNA scientific assembly. vol. 206, No. 3, pp. 711-715.
The Mammotome Breast Biopsy System. From http://www.breastcareinfo.com. 6 pages.
Embolization and Occlusion. From www.cookgroup.com. 6 pages.

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Apparatus for the percutaneous marking of a lesion does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Apparatus for the percutaneous marking of a lesion, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus for the percutaneous marking of a lesion will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3135018

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.