the exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described and illustrated below to encompass orthopedic surgical devices and associated techniques that are applicable in areas such as , without limitation , tendon harvesting and minimally invasive surgery ( mis ). of course , it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the preferred embodiments discussed below are exemplary in nature and may be reconfigured without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . however , for clarity and precision , the exemplary embodiments as discussed below may include optional steps , methods , and features that one of ordinary skill should recognize as not being a requisite to fall within the scope of the present invention . referencing fig1 - 3 , a first exemplary tendon stripper 10 includes a handle 12 mounted to a semiflexible plastic connecting rod 14 at a proximal end 16 . the connecting rod 14 extends outward from the handle 12 and is mounted to a plastic barrel 18 at a distal end 20 . the handle 12 includes a cavity 22 adapted to house a portable power source 24 such as , without limitation , batteries . electrical leads 26 housed within the cavity 22 provide electrical communication between one of a set of contact plates ( not shown ) and the batteries 24 , while a second contact plate is in electrical communication with an electrically powered cautery 28 . for purposes of explanation only , the electrically powered cautery 28 of the first exemplary embodiment is described as an electrical monofilament wire cautery . those of ordinary skill will readily understand that other cautery devices may be used in lieu of or in addition to the electrical monofilament wire cautery 28 such as , without limitation , monopolar / bipolar cautery , radiofrequency probe , optical filament , or laser energy . in exemplary form , the handle 12 of the stripper 10 is intended to be seated within the palm of the user &# 39 ; s hand , with the user &# 39 ; s finger wrapping around the handle 12 and the user &# 39 ; s thumb facing the barrel 18 . an actuator 30 repositionably mounted to the handle 12 is intended to be engaged by a user &# 39 ; s thumb in order to reposition the actuator and activate the electrical wire cautery 28 . the actuator 30 rides within a channel 32 formed within the surface of the handle 12 that provides linear travel forward and backward ( as shown by the arrow of fig2 ). a forward depression 34 within the actuator 30 includes a plurality of horizontal plateaus 36 that are adapted provide a gripping surface for user &# 39 ; s thumb to engage while moving the actuator backward . in addition , the actuator 30 includes a second , reward depression 38 adapted to receive a user &# 39 ; s thumb when moving the actuator 30 forward . the underside of the actuator 30 includes a corresponding set of contact plates ( not shown ) that provide electrical communication between the batteries 24 and the electrical wire cautery 28 after the actuator is moved rearward beyond a predetermined point . those of ordinary skill will realize that the precise point at which the contact plates close the circuit to provide electric current to the cautery 28 is within the purview of one of ordinary skill and may be changed without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention . likewise , it is within the scope of the invention to provide a separate actuator ( other than the actuator 30 mounted to the electrical wire cautery 28 ) that is responsible for establishing electrical communication between the cautery 28 and batteries 24 . a frontal aspect 40 of the actuator 30 is coupled to the electrical wire cautery 28 , which extends through a cylindrical conduit 42 extending substantially the entire length of the connecting rod 14 . the electrical wire cautery 28 exits the distal end of the connecting rod 14 through a hole 44 connecting the interior of the conduit 42 with the interior of the barrel 18 . referring to fig4 , the barrel 18 includes a first semiannular section 46 that is repositionable with respect to a second semiannular section 48 by way of a hinge 50 and catch 52 . the hinge 50 may be a living hinge or mechanical hinge operative to allow an opening 54 between the sections 46 , 48 to accommodate a linear section of a tendon to be lowered into the interior of the barrel 18 . it is to be understood that the hinged barrel 18 of the first exemplary tendon stripper 10 accommodates tendons that are either detached from bodily tissue at one or both ends , as well as tendons attached to bodily tissue at opposing ends . exemplary manually operative catches or fasteners 52 may be snap - fit or any other type of catch / fastener that provides for selective opening and closing of the sections 46 , 48 . it is also within the scope of the invention that the catch be automatically operated . in the closed position , the sections 46 , 48 provide a cylindrical barrel 18 that includes a circular cross - section . nevertheless , it is to be understood that the dimensions and contours of the barrel 18 are exemplary in nature and may be reconfigured to include , without limitation , rectangular cross - sections and oblong circular cross - sections . as will be discussed in more detail below , the distal end 20 of each of the sections 46 , 48 and the distal end 20 of the connecting rod 14 are beveled to decrease the resistance to longitudinal movement of the barrel 18 in the proximal direction to strip the tissue surrounding the tendon as the barrel 18 progresses along the length of the tendon . referring to fig4 - 6 , the electrical wire cautery 28 is anchored within a cavern 58 of the first semiannular section 46 . the electrical wire cautery 28 extending beyond the cavern 58 is seated within a circumferential recess 60 of the interior of the barrel 18 ( formed by the two semiannular interior surfaces of the sections 46 , 48 ) to circumferentially line the interior until reaching the hole 44 leading out of the barrel 18 in the “ slacked position .” this slacked position ( see fig3 and 4 ) corresponds with the position of the actuator 30 in the most forward position or in pre - severance position where the electrical wire cautery 28 accommodates the shape of the tendon . in contrast , when the actuator 30 is repositioned rearward ( see fig2 ), the length of the electrical wire cautery 28 within the barrel 18 is substantially decreased resulting in a “ taught position ” or post - severance position ( see fig6 ). a return wire 62 , in electrical communication with anchored aspect of the wire cautery 28 , runs parallel to the cautery wire in a separate recess 64 within the interior of the barrel 18 . the return wire 62 exits the barrel 18 through the hole 44 and extends through the cylindrical conduit 42 of the connecting rod 14 until reaching the interior of the handle and into electrical communication with one of the electrical contact plates . as discussed above , when the actuator 30 is repositioned rearward to an extent to allow for contact between the electrical contact plates , the electrical circuit is closed and the electrical wire cautery 28 is energized resulting in the wire becoming heated to a sufficient degree to burn through the tendon within the barrel 18 . the stripper 10 is manufactured in variable sizes to precisely allow various diameters and lengths of tendons to be harvested . by matching the diameter of the barrel 18 to the prospective tendon to be harvested , the surrounding soft tissue is protected from inadvertent entry . exemplary measurements for components of the tendon stripper 10 include an overall length of 40 cm . the handle 12 includes a length of 15 cm and a diameter of 2 mm diameter . the handle 12 may be fabricated from plastic . the electrical wire cautery 28 is commercially available from malin company , inc ., 5400 smith road , cleveland , ohio 44142 and may be tailored to match the preferred length of the rod 14 and circumference of the barrel 18 . the connecting rod 14 is flexible and commercially available from the medtech group , inc ., 6 century road , south plainfield , n . j . 07080 . the barrel 18 is fabricated from a surgically acceptable plastic and includes a length of approximately 1 . 5 cm and a diameter ranging between approximately 4 . 0 mm . to about 9 . 0 mm . the electrical wire cautery 28 of the present invention may comprise at least two aspects . a first aspect of the wire cautery 28 , positioned within the barrel 18 as shown in fig4 and 5 , may be comprised of a high resistance filament , whereas a second aspect comprising the remainder of the wire cautery 28 may be comprised of a low resistance wire . the lengths of the first and second aspects of the electrical wire cautery 28 are well within the purview of one of ordinary skill . the exemplary tendon stripper 10 may be utilized for accurate and atraumatic harvesting of a tendon failing to include a detached free end . a small 3 cm incision is made to expose a subcutaneous portion of a tendon . the catch 52 is released to allow the semiannular sections 46 , 48 of the barrel 18 to be separated via movement of the hinge 50 to create the opening 54 through which the viewed tendon is longitudinally repositioned to pass through and lie on the interior of the barrel 18 . after the tendon is located in the interior of the barrel 18 , the sections 46 , 48 are brought together to close the opening 54 and the catch 52 is secured . the barrel 18 is advanced within the tissue plane of the tendon until reaching a predetermined location , while concurrently avoiding exposure of companion neurovascular structures . movement of the barrel 18 along the tendon is operative to separate the tendon from surrounding bodily tissue . once the barrel 18 is advanced to a predetermined location along of the tendon , the actuator 30 is repositioned rearward away from the barrel 18 to provide contact between the metal plates to close the circuit and energize the electrical wire cautery 28 positioned underneath of the tendon . as actuator 30 is moved further away from the barrel 18 , portions of the electrical wire cautery 28 are drawn out of the barrel 18 through the hole 44 , thereby reducing the length of the electrical wire cautery 28 remaining within the barrel 18 . the tendon in the path of the moving electrical wire cautery 28 , while energized , is cauterized . eventually , enough of the electrical wire cautery 28 is withdrawn from the barrel 18 to arrive at the taught position shown in fig6 . at this point , any tendon within the barrel 18 is completely severed by the action of the electrical wire cautery 28 . the tendon is pulled away from the barrel 18 and delivered to the incision . the actuator 22 is pushed to an off position and the stripper 10 is withdrawn . the exemplary stripper 10 is advantageous in both arthroscopy and mis applications to minimally disrupt surround soft tissue structures . the body responds to less injury and heals faster as the incision and wound is smaller by using a stripper 10 that does not require line of sight prior to cauterizing the tendon , nor requires that one end of the tendon be free prior to cauterization . moreover , the surrounding tissue is protected from the heat of the cauterization by the barrel 18 of the tendon stripper 10 . it is also within the scope of the present invention to exchange the cautery 28 for a razor wire . in this manner , the actuator might be rearwardly repositioned to withdraw a portion of the razor wire from the barrel in a manner that would be operative to sever the tendon . it is also within the scope of the invention to provide a delivery system for optical cable to deliver laser energy or to use the barrel to deliver a probe for radiofrequency energy or monopolar / bipolar electrocautery . following from the above description and invention summaries , it should be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that , while the methods and apparatuses herein described constitute exemplary embodiments of the present invention , the invention contained herein is not limited to this precise embodiment and that changes may be made to such embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims . additionally , it is to be understood that the invention is defined by the claims and it is not intended that any limitations or elements describing the exemplary embodiments set forth herein are to be incorporated into the interpretation of any claim element unless such limitation or element is explicitly stated . likewise , it is to be understood that it is not necessary to meet any or all of the identified advantages or objects of the invention disclosed herein in order to fall within the scope of any claims , since the invention is defined by the claims and since inherent and / or unforeseen advantages of the present invention may exist even though they may not have been explicitly discussed herein .
the invention includes a tendon stripper comprising : a frame , including a cautery , that is adapted to separate surrounding tissue along a length of a tendon ; a handle mounted to the frame that is adapted to reposition the frame with respect to the tendon ; and an actuator in communication with the cautery and operative to activate the cautery , where activation of the cautery is adapted to sever the tendon . the invention also includes a method of stripping a tendon comprising : exposing a tendon ; aligning a tendon stripper guide with respect to a first location to the tendon ; repositioning the tendon stripper guide along the tendon from the first location of the tendon to a second location of the tendon , where the act of repositioning of the tendon stripper guide is operative to separate surrounding tissue from the tendon between the first location and the second location ; activating a cautery to sever the tendon approximate the second location ; and cutting the tendon at a location other than the second location to provide a tendon segment .