An Endoluminal Tissue Excision Catheter (ETEC) is described which is capable of excising obstructive tissue from a vessel in a living body. The ETEC system operates by first passing a guide wire through the vessel and beyond the obstructive tissue. The ETEC catheter is then advanced over the guide wire until its distal end lies beyond the obstructive tissue. A closing catheter portion of ETEC is then pulled back from a cut/collect catheter portion of the ETEC thus exposing a cutting edge located at the proximal end of a cylindrical cutting blade located at a distal portion of the cut/collect catheter. A rotating means is then attached to the cut/collect catheters'3 s proximal end. The cut/collect catheter is then pulled back in a retrograde direction while rotating, thus cutting and collecting the excised obstructive tissue into a tissue collection chamber that is formed within the cylindrical cutting blade. The entire ETEC system including the cut/collect and closing catheters and the guide wire is then removed from the vessel. Means are provided to flush the collected tissue out of the tissue collection chamber after the ETEC catheter is outside of the living body.