Patent attributes
An instrument assembly and method are described for isolating a target lesion in a patient's body tissue, resulting in a high likelihood of “clean” margins about the lesion when it is removed for diagnosis and/or therapy. This approach advantageously will often result in the ability to both diagnose and treat a malignant lesion with only a single percutaneous procedure, with no follow-up percutaneous or surgical procedure required. In particular, the instrument assembly has a distal end adapted for entry into the patient's body, a longitudinal shaft, and a cutting element disposed along a distal portion of the shaft. The cutting element is actuatable between a retracted position within an electrically insulating recess and a radially extended position and is rotatable about its axis in the radially extended position to isolate a desire tissue specimen from surrounding tissue by defining a peripheral margin about the tissue specimen.
