An electromagnetic biopsy device

This communication describes an electromagnetic biopsy device built at the Electronics Department of the Weizmann Institute, Israel, and presently undergoing evaluation at Tel-Hashomer Hospital. The device is intended to obtain biopsy samples froom the gastrointestinal tract after introduction through the natural openings to this tract. It wras originally intended to develop a device which would be easily passed, would be capable of taking multiple cuts without having to be withdrawn and reset after each cut, would not accidentally trip while being directed to the site of interest, could be backed off an incomplete cut and would permit the degree of vacuum to be con-trolled independently of the force activating the knife. This latter condition allows better control of the size of the biopsy speclimen than is achieved with several available devices.