GB2100990A

GB2100990A - Surgical cutting tool for eye and other operations

Info

Publication number: GB2100990A
Application number: GB08210937A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Roger Dubois; Christophe Huber
Original assignee: HUBER AND CO HAUTERIVE SA
Current assignee: HUBER AND CO HAUTERIVE SA
Priority date: 1981-04-15
Filing date: 1982-04-15
Publication date: 1983-01-12
Also published as: CH649912A5; DE3118673A1; DE3118673C2

Abstract

A conical cutting element 1 made of a gemstone material is secured by a glue 9 to the flattened end area 7 of a tubular holder 2. The cone 4 of the cutting element 1 is provided with four longitudinal grooves 11, which are uniformly distributed about the circumference of the cone 4. Each two adjacent grooves 11, with their common rim, form a cutting edge 12 in the vicinity of the tip 3 of the cone 4. This cutting tool, which is particularly well-suited for eye operations, has an incising zone which is narrowly defined by the area of its tip yet has a plurality of cutting directions. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Surgical cutting tool suitable for eye and other operations This invention relates to a surgical cutting tool suitable for use for example in eye surgery, and also to a method of making such a tool.

Known cutting tools or surgical knives for eye operations have a leaf-shaped blade of stainless steel, the free end area of which is very narrow (a few tenths of a millimeter wide) and which is provided with a cutting edge on one long side. The blade has a length of approximately 15 millimeters, is slightly curved and is either secured to a needlelike holder and approximately perpendicular thereto or else forms a part of such a holder; the needle-like holder is secured on a rod-like handle.

The disadvantage of such known ophthalmological cutting tools is above all the fact that the metal blade has only a single cutting edge, or can only have one edge because of the necessarily narrow width of the blade, so that when it is used, an incision of larger area must be made into the eye than would actually be necessary to perform the operation; accordingly, after the actual operation is finished, a subsequent closure of the incision by suturing is in most cases unavoidable. A further disadvantage of the known ophthalmological cutting tools is that the metal blade must be made of stainless steel, and for this reason its cutting edge cannot be as sharp as may be required.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a surgical cutting tool which is suitable for use in eye and other delicate surgery, which tool at least in part reduces the disadvantages of the known tools discussed above.

According to one aspect of this invention, there is provided a surgical cutting tool having a plurality of cutting edges, characterized by a conical cutting element secured to a holder and made of a gemstone material or a material of comparable hardness, the conical face of which element is provided with at least four longitudinal grooves distributed in the circumferential direction, each two adjacent grooves forming a cutting edge in the area of the tip of the cone, the cutting edge extending towards the tip of the cone and being generated by a common groove rim.

In the tool of this invention, the gemstone (or comparable hardness material) providing the cutting edge has at least four longitudinal grooves about its circumference extending towards the tip such that each two adjacent grooves form the cutting edge itself. Thus this cutting tool has a functional portion which is narrowly defined by its tip yet has a plurality of functional directions, which is to say cutting edges. Furthermore, it is made of an absolutely corrosion-resistant material the characteristics of which permit the attainment of very sharp cutting edges. Thus the incision made by a cutting tool according to the invention can remain restricted to the actual location of the operation, for instance in the eye, so that a subsequent treatment of the location operated upon is generally superfluous.

According to a second aspect of this invention, there is provided a method for producing a surgical cutting tool of this invention as described above, wherein at least four longitudinal grooves are ground with a cylindrical grinding tool into a right cone made of gemstone material or a material of comparable hardness, in a direction inclined toward the axis of the cone and to a depth which is smaller at the base of the cone than the radius of the grinding tool.

By way of example only, one specific embodiment of this invention will now be described in detail, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a side view of the cutting element of the cutting tool, secured on a holder and seen partially in section; and Figure 2 is a plan view on the tip of the cutting element of Figure 1.

The illustrated cutting tool basically has a cutting element 1 and a holder 2 for the cutting element 1.

The cutting element 1 has a cone 4 terminating in a tip 3, a cylindrical base 5 and a securing tang 6. The holder 2 comprises a cylindrical tube compressed flat in its end area 7 and provided with a bore 8 for receiving the tang 6. The cutting element 1, inserted with the tang 6 into the bore 8 and resting with its base 5 against the compressed end area 7, is anchored on the holder end 7 by means of a glue 9, such as an epoxy resin. The tubular holder 2 is provided at the point where its cylindrical part terminates in the end area 7 with an opening 10, located for example on the side of the cone 4 of the cutting element 1; this opening 10 makes it possible to direct a liquid or gas medium, fed through the bore of the tubular holder 2, toward the tip 3 of the cone 4 or in other words to the site of the operation.

In the illustrated embodiment, the cone 4 has a total of four longitudinal grooves 11 in its jacket face, their cross-sectional surfaces being sections of circular surfaces and their axes being inclined towards the axis of the cone 4. The grooves 11 meet towards the tip 3 of the cone 4, and one cutting edge 12 is formed by each pair of grooves with the common rim between them, so that all the cutting edges 12 meet in the tip 3.

The cutting element 1 is made of a gemstone material, preferably ruby or sapphire, although diamond is also possible. The cutting element 1 can nevertheless be of some other material which has a hardness which corresponds to that of a gemstone material; an example is a sintered material such as tungsten carbide. The diameter of the cone 4 at its geometrical base may be 4/10 mm, for example, and its height 3/10 mm. The height of the cylindrical base 5 may be 1/10 mm, for example, and the height of the tang 6, including the glue above it, approximately 2/10 mm. The outside diameter of the tubular holder 2 may be 3/10 mm, with a wall thickness of 1/20 mm, again as an example.

The tubular holder 2, only partially shown, has an adjoining, slightly curved section approximately 10 to 15 mm long, merging with a further section bent at an angle from it, in order to provide for efficacious manipulation of the cutting tool in a manner com parable to that for known ophthalmoloyical knives.

The angled section of the holer 2 is inserted into a rod-like handle, preferably in a releasable manner, by means of an appropriate tensioning or clamping device.

In order to manufacture the illustrated cutting tool, first a cone with a smooth jacket face is made by appropriately grinding the gemstone material. The grooves 11 are then formed in the cone by means of a cylindrical grinding tool, which is guided with its axis tilted relative to the cone axis, and the grooves 11 are recessed at the base of the cone to a depth which is less than the radius of the grinding tool. The base 5 and the tang 6 are now ground. The cutting element 1 inserted into the bore 8 of the compressed end area 7 of the tubular holder 2 is then anchored in place by means of a drop of glue 9, for instance an epoxy resin; preferably, as may be seen in Figure 1, the base 5 as well is joined to the end area 7 by means of the glue. Then, finally, the hardened glue is given the rounded form shown in Figure 1 by means of grinding.

The cutting tool according to the invention is advantageous not only for eye operations, but also for other operations in the interior of some organ of the body, where the cutting tool must pass through the organ with the least possible injury, as in the case of cystotomy, for instance.

Claims

1. A surgical cutting tool having a plurality of cutting edges, characterized by a conical cutting element secured to a holder and made of a gemstone material or a material of comparable hardness, the conical face of which element is provided with at least four longitudinal grooves distributed in the cir cumferential direction, each two adjacent grooves forming a cutting edge in the area of the tip of the cone, the cutting edge extending towards the tip of the cone and being generated by a common groove rim.

2. A cutting tool according to claim 1, wherein each longitudinal groove has its axis inclined toward the axis of the cone and is of arc-shaped cross section.

3. A cutting tool according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the longitudinal grooves are uniformly distributed around the circumference of the conical cutting element.

4. A cutting tool according to any of claims 1 to 3 wherein the gemstone material is one of a ruby, a sapphire or a diamond.

5. A cutting tool according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the holder has a flat end zone, to which the cutting element is secured by means of a glue via a tang provided on the conical cutting element.

6. A surgical cutting tool substantially as herein before described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.

7. A method for producing a surgical cutting tool according to claim 1, characterized in that at least four longitudinal grooves are ground with a cylin drical grinding tool into a right cone made of gems tone material or a material of comparable hardness, in a direction inclined toward the axis of the cone and to a depth which is smaller at the base of the cone than the radius of the grinding tool.

8. A method according to claim 7 and substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.