ANGLED TISSUE CUTTING INSTRUMENT HAVING VARIABLY POSITIONABLE CUTTING WINDOW AND INDEXING TOOL

摘要

An angled tissue cutting instrument (10) includes an outer member (12) having an elongate body (18) with a bend (24) and a forward end, and a distal tip (16) rotatably mounted on the forward end. The distal tip and body are rotatable relative to one another about a central longitudinal axis (28) of the tip to variably position a cutting window (42) of the tip in a selected directional position about the axis. Relative rotation between the distal tip and the body about the axis is prevented to lock the cutting window in a selected directional position when the outer member is maintained in a longitudinally extended position by an inner member of the instrument disposed within the outer member. An indexing tool for the angled tissue cutting instrument has a socket for receiving the distal tip to effect rotational indexing. A method of variably positioning a cutting window of an angled tissue cutting instrument involves rotationally indexing a distal tip of an outer member of the instrument and maintaining the distal tip in a selected rotationally indexed position.