| abstract |
Fluid jet tubes having operative openings and cell traps for cell cluster, tissue and debris harvesting and collecting are used with an endoscope such that the fluid jets draw-in, stabilize and hold in-vivo target specimens at a distal end. While the catheter grips the tissue by suction, blasts of high pressure solution strip from the tissue and suspend clusters of cells which are ready for analysis. The clusters are entrained in the solution and are recovered in a cell collection trap at the proximal end. Traps are removed, replaced or rotated out of and into alignment with a trap connector to accommodate new target specimens. A switch controls fluid flow, intensity and frequency of fluid jet blasts of the solution. The fluid jet catheter paired with a fiber optic system in an endoscope allows viewing of areas surrounding the distal end of the catheter. |