Patent attributes
A medical instrument has a shaft and a tool which is mounted on a distal end of the shaft in such a way as to be removable therefrom. The shaft has an inner shaft and a tubular shaft which surrounds the inner shaft and which is longitudinally displaceable relative thereto. The tool is locked on the shaft when the tubular shaft is in a locking position pushed forward relative to the inner shaft, and it can be removed from the shaft when the tubular shaft is in a release position pulled back relative to the inner shaft. For easier handling of the instrument when changing the tool, it is proposed that the instrument has an actuating element which is movable substantially transversely with respect to the longitudinal direction of the tubular shaft and which is connected operatively to the tubular shaft in such a way that the tubular shaft is moved from the locking position to the release position by moving the actuating element from a first position to a second position, and vice versa.