Cutting devices have been developed which include loops for the finger and thumb of the endoscopic surgeon and an elongate stem secured to the first of the two loops at the other end of which stem is located the cutting head. A channel is usually located in the stem in which is located a wire connecting the second loop to a moveable jaw on the cutting head. The other jaw is generally fixed and formed by an aperture at the end of the stem located opposite the jaw connected to the wire. As with a pair of conventional scissors, movement of the loops away from or towards each other effects a corresponding movement in the cutting head at the end of the stem. In many surgical applications, a very small head is required for accurate cutting of body tissues. Unfortunately, there is the problem of slippage of the object being cut. This problem is caused, during surgery, because of the presence of bodily fluids reducing the friction between the cutting head and the tissue. The problem is particularly acute during endoscopic surgery because it is not possible to hold the tissue in the cutting head.
A head has been developed with a series of lateral grooves formed on the cutting face of the moving jaw which act to hold or grip the tissue during cutting. Unfortunately, it has been found that the grooves reduce the cutting efficiency of the jaw along its cutting edges. This is particularly the case when the cutting head is very small. A cutting head has been developed with straight cutting edges along either side and a planar face which is terminated by a sharp tooth at the end of the jaw. This has resulted in improved efficiency during cutting by increasing the cutting efficiency but the problem of slippage still remains.
Again, this is particularly a problem where a small cutting head is required in order to cut inaccessible areas during, for instance, endoscopic surgery. In such applications, the cutting head may need to be small in order to gain access to the tissue to be cut but the tissue area may be relatively large in proportion to the size of the cutting head. Thus, it is imperative that very little slippage occurs to reduce the cutting time to a minimum.