The present invention relates to the field of surgery and more particularly to a surgical instrument to be used in gynecologic surgery and urological surgery and in other surgical fields. One of the most well-known procedures in the gynecology field are hysterectomies where the uterine body is removed. The advantages by doing the procedure laproscopicly are that the patient on needs two or 3 minor scar on the abdomen, and potentially has an easier recovery than when the abdominal muscle is cut in older forms of surgery. Once the uterus has been separated from the cervix the uterine tissue need to be removed from the patient throughout one of small incisions in the abdomen. Since the uterus has a diameter up to 300 mm or more a appropriate tool is need to render the uterus into pieces sized in a way that they can be removed throughout one of the small incisions. The tool to do this is called a Morcellator. The morcellator renders the tissue into small pieces or preferably long strips which can be drawn out through the central lumen of the morcellator. Most of the morcellators uses a principle where a rotating sharp tube cuts into the uterus while the surgeon pulls the tissue backwards using an appropriate forceps.
The common morcellator is built from following basic parts:
Cutting tube, which is a driven rotating tube operating from 200 to 1000 RPM depending on brand/model, and which can be made from stainless steel or mild steel. The wall thickness vary such that for reusable blades relatively thick wall blades are often seen while single use blades tend to be made from thin wall steel.
Drive Unit:
The drive unit can be located in hand-piece or in a separate “drive unit” placed on the table away from the hand-piece. The separate drive unit can have a built in motor turning the cutting tube via a gearbox or a motor may be connected the gearbox through a mechanical cable extending from a remote drive or it can be a power supply feeding the motor in the hand-piece with electrical power.
Gear Box:
The drive unit can be a separate unit from the drive unit and is typically intended to transfer the torque from the motor to the rotating cutting tube.
Control Mechanism.
Various mechanisms are known in the prior art with the most common being a foot pedal connected to the drive unit and acting as an on/of switch for the morcellator. A few powered morselators are hand controlled operated and do not have a foot pedal.
Hand Piece:
The prior art hand pieces for powered morselators range from bulky to heavy.
Charging Stands and Power Supplies:
Prior art morcellators have been powered by remote and encased power supplies that were either renewable or rechargeable.
Previous morsellators were cumbersome could not deliver adequate functional capabilities unless they were driven by an external or rechargeable power supply. For example one widely used morsellator uses a remote drive which was connected to the cutting tube through a cable which extended from the sterile operating field to a rotary drive. As noted above this device could be controlled by a foot control connected to the rotary drive. None of the known powered morsellators are unitary integrated devices which are designed to be disposed of after a single use. Some may have disposable components such as a cutting tube, however the remaining parts are all parts that must be tediously sterilized and cleaned after each use, thereby increasing the labor cost of the medical services. If any component accidentally leaves the sterile operating field, the procedure must be halted until a new sterile replacement for the component can be obtained from supply. Likewise, should a component such as a drive cable become tangled during the course of a procedure, the surgeon's control of the morsellator is compromised by the tension in the cable and the procedure must be stopped and restarted with a replacement part. It is noteworthy to mention that some surgeons consider the driven morsellator the most dangerous surgical instrument in use today. Consequently a need exists for a ready to use, disposable, single piece morsellator that will be smaller and more ergonomic than existing morsellators.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds