ANGLED ROTARY TISSUE CUTTING INSTRUMENT

摘要

The present invention is generally characterized in an angled rotary tissue cutting instrument (10) including an outer blade assembly (12) having a rigid tubular member (18) with proximal and distal portions connected by a bend (22) and an inner blade assembly (14) rotatably disposed within the outer blade assembly (12) and including a tubular drive shaft (36) at a proximal end, a cutting tip (38) at a distal end and a flexible coupling (40) disposed between the drive shaft (36) and the cutting tip (38). The drive shaft (36) and cutting tip (38) include neck portions (46, 60) which are disposed telescopically within proximal and distal ends of the coupling (40). The flexible coupling (40) is formed of a flexible polymeric material and each of the neck portions (46, 60) includes a lateral opening (52, 62) defining a predetermined flow path for the polymeric material during fabrications so that the flexible polymeric coupling (40) includes flow portions (66') extending into the openings (52, 62) in the neck portions (46, 60) of the drive shaft (36) and the cutting tip (38) to form permanent, interlocking mechanical joints therewith capable of receiving and transmitting torque.