An apparatus is provided for supporting a Verres needle which includes a mechanism for grasping a portion of the abdomen such that the needle may be moved to penetrate the abdomen to create a space between the abdominal wall and the abdominal organs and includes a mechanism for advancing the Verres needle toward the abdominal cavity by relative movement to the needle with respect to the portion of the apparatus which holds the needle. The apparatus further includes a mechanism for controlling the movement of the needle relative to the grasping portion of the apparatus.

The present invention provides an angioscope catheter for visualizing the interior of a vessel, such as an artery. The angioscope catheter includes an angioscope having a distal viewing end, an irrigating catheter that includes structure for introducing flush solution to the interior of the vessel at the distal end of the angioscope, and a deflector shield mounted at the distal end of the angiscope such that flush solution introduced by the catheter impacts on the deflector shield.

A retractor for use in arthroscopic surgery. The retractor has a mechanical expanding portion for expanding against sub-surface tissues when the retractor is in use. The retractor also has a fluid-operated expanding portion, which may be independently controllable, for expanding against sub-surface tissues when the retractor is in use. The retractor is inserted through a small percutaneous opening, expanded in sub-surface tissues without significantly damaging the tissue, then collapsed after use for removal. The retractor can be manipulated to allow the surgeon to push or pull or lever on tissue. The retractor can be hollow like a cannula to per,nit the passage of one or more surgical devices through the retractor, with a side portal into the center of the retractor.

A protector girdle to be wrapped around an endoscopic insertion instrument prior to introduction into a body cavity through a cannula of a trocar for protecting a soft skin layer on a flexible section of the insertion instrument from sharp edges at the fore end of the cannula. The protector girdle is formed of a generally rectangular sheet of rigid and slippery material with a restorative spring force, and provided with an adhesive band zone defined in a predetermined width along one side of the rectangular sheet, and a large number of elongated flap cover strips cut in the remainder of the sheet material in a predetermined pitch along the adhesive band zone and having free ends on the other side of the sheet remote from the adhesive band zone. When the protector girdle is fitted on an endoscopic insertion instrument, a soft skin layer in a flexible section is securely protected by the respective flap cover strips while passage through sharp edges at the fore end of a cannula.

This invention relates to a filter for the partial and at least temporary interruption of a vein, comprising a tube made of polytetrafluoroethylene presenting towards its distal end longitudinal notches distributed symmetrically over its periphery and defining flexible bands, and a conduit made of polytetrafluoroethylene inside the tube; the conduit and the tube are joined for example by thermo-welding by their distal ends. A ring made of a radio-opaque material is preferably included between the distal ends during thermo-welding. The flexible bands open out transversely by the conduit sliding in the tube. They have undergone a treatment of thermo-setting, memorizing in the polymeric structure of the tetrafluoroethylene the opened out form and/or a helical form.