CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR BIOPSY DEVICES

摘要

A system adapted to control the operation of a fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy device provided with a syringe to which is transferred a tissue sample extracted from an internal target in the body of a patient in which the needle is injected. Associated with this biopsy device is an ultrasound imaging instrument having a transducer placed on a body site overlying the internal target and coupled to a CRT monitor. The needle is injected into the patient through a guide passage in the transducer, hence displayed on the CRT screen is an image of the internal target and that of the advancing needle. The biopsy device is controlled by a pneumatic or motor-driven mechanism operatively coupled to a guide tube through which the needle extends. For a first phase of an operating cycle, the mechanism advances the needle toward the target to extract a tissue sample therefrom. In a second operating phase, the mechanism acts to retract the tissue loaded needle from the body of the patient. And in the final phase of the operating cycle, the sample is transferred from the needle to the syringe from which it can be removed for analyses.