withdrawn and the needle further inserted into the lesion with the result that tissue is cut and fills the now open cutting end of the cannula as it travels a slight distance through the lesion to collect the specimen. A suction device can be applied to the proximal portion of the cannula to withdraw the tissue sample thus taken. Alternatively, the cannula can be rotated to sever the tissue and the cannula withdrawn from the site. In a typical side cut needle, there is a "solid" inner cannula within an outer cannula and the inner cannula has a shaped pointed end with a cutting groove formed in the distal portion of the inner cannula behind the pointed end. The side cut needle is inserted into the patient untilthe needle reaches the site of the lesion where the biopsy sample is to be taken. The inner cannula is then advanced into the lesion to the point where the specimen is to be taken and rotated so that the cutting groove severs the tissue. The outer cannula advances over the inner cannula thus containing or entrapping the specimen within the groove of the inner cannula and the outer cannula, and the needle is then withdrawn from the site. There are many biopsy needle designs commercially available or described in the literature. For example, it is known to provide an inner cannula within the cutting cannula of the end cutting needle which uses movable jaws extending beyond the distal end of the cutting cannula to sever and extract