Cryoenucleation tool

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I claim: 1.
Apparatus for cryoenucleating a tumor of the eye comprising: a spoon of thermally insulating material having a handle and a concave bowl and adapted to receive an eyeball, and a refrigerating loop supported on the concave side of the bowl and of a size adapted to substantially surround a tumor in said eyeball thereby to freeze it, means being provided to circulate refrigerant in passage means of said loop.
2.
Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the spoon is formed from silicon plastics material.
3.
Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the refrigerating loop is a tube formed from silicon plastics material.
4.
Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the passage means of said loop is adapted to be connected to a source of liquid nitrogen as refrigerant and circulatable in said passage means.
5.
Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which the loop is located in a recess in the concavity of the spoon bowl.
6.
Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 in which a source of refrigerant is connected to the loop by connecting means passing coaxially through the handle of the spoon and refrigerant is vented to the atmosphere from the loop by passage means coaxially passing through the handle of the spoon.




Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to apparatus for use in freezing a tumor in the eye during surgical procedure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION It is now thought that the surgical removal of eyes containing choroidal malignant melanoma has helped the spread of tumor cells to other parts of the patient rather than the intended purpose of removing all the tumor cells to avoid such dissemination.
It has been found that pressures within the eye rise dramatically during an enucleation or eye removal.
It is believed that such pressures may cause showers of tumor cells into the blood stream of the patient.
In a previous attempt to prevent the possibility of such a release of tumor cells, a device for freezing a tumor in an eye has been developed