THREE-DIMENSIONAL CUTTING INSTRUMENT

摘要

A cutting instrument includes a blade and a cutting edge that is curved in a direction having a vector component that is transverse to a cutting direction of the instrument, thereby forming a three-dimensional cutting edge. In use, this structure allows the cutting instrument to be drawn across tissue, without necessarily rotating, and separate a strip from the tissue. Various geometries for the cutting instrument can be created by forming a planar blade, heating the blade, and then plastically deforming the blade around a mandrel to achieve the desired three-dimensional geometry.