Surgical portal with rotating seal

1. A surgical portal apparatus, which comprises:

a portal housing defining a central housing axis and a central housing channel;

a portal sleeve extending from the portal housing, the portal sleeve dimensioned to pass through tissue to provide access to underlying tissue and having a longitudinal opening, the central housing channel of the portal housing and the longitudinal opening of the portal sleeve defining a passageway for reception and passage of a surgical object;

a seal having inner surfaces defining a seal passage for establishing a general sealed relation about the surgical object, the seal passage being radially offset with respect to the central housing axis, the seal being adapted to rotate about the central housing axis to vary positioning of the seal passage radially around the central housing axis to substantially maintain the substantial sealed relation upon manipulation of the surgical object within the portal housing; and

a ball bearing assembly mounted within the portal housing and operatively coupled to the seal, the ball bearing assembly permitting rotational movement of the seal about a seal axis.

2. The surgical portal apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the ball bearing assembly includes a fixed ring, a rotating ring, and at least two ball bearings disposed within a track formed by the rings, the rotating ring in communication with the seal so that the seal passage of the seal rotates about the central housing axis.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the fixed ring of the ball bearing assembly is an outer ring affixed to the portal housing and the rotating ring is an inner ring that freely rotates radially with the ball bearings.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the fixed ring is a distal ring affixed to the portal housing and the rotating ring is a proximal ring that freely rotates radially over the ball bearings.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the seal assembly further comprises an attachment plate for securing the seal to the rotating ring of the ball bearing assembly.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 , including a manually engageable actuator operatively coupled to the seal and extending from the portal housing, the actuator movable to cause corresponding rotational movement of the seal about the central housing axis.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the seal is substantially planar and defines an aperture, the aperture being the seal passage.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the seal is substantially orthogonal to the central housing axis.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein the seal is substantially obliquely arranged with respect to the central housing axis.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the seal defines a general funneled profile.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the seal defines an aperture, the aperture being the seal passage.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein the seal defines an oblique conical section.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1 , including a zero-closure valve adapted to substantially close in the absence of the surgical object.