Bronchoscopic needle assembly

Claim 1

A completely flexible bronchoscopic needle assembly for use with a flexible bronchoscope to obtain biopsy tissue samples from a patient, said assembly comprising: an elongated flexible outer catheter having proximal and distal ends and defining an outer catheter cavity therebetween; a hard tip including means for rigidly fixing said tip to said outer catheter distal end and means defining a bearing surface on the proximal end of said tip; a hollow needle slideably and coaxially receivable in said tip and reciprocably moveable therein between a retracted position whereby said needle is retractably housed within said catheter to prevent inadvertent damage to said bronchoscope or said patient thereby and an extended position whereby said needle is extended beyond the distal surface of said tip to permit the taking of biopsy tissue samples, said needle at its distal end defining a sharp edge for penetrating body tissue; means connected to said needle for permitting reciprocal movement thereof between said retracted and extended positions; limit means rigidly associated with said needle for contacting said bearing surface of said tip for establishing the extreme limit of said extended position; and biasing means biasing said limit means into contacting relationship with said bearing surface to prevent retractable movement of said needle when in said extended position.