Surgical Clip Advancement and Alignment Mechanism

• US 20060235441A1
• Filed: 04/14/2005
• Published: 10/19/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cilag Gmbh International (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Huitema, Thomas, Bertke, Brian, Molitor, Nicholas, Vitali, Dario, Koch, Robert L. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 7,731,724 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/142
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/12 for ligaturing or otherwise compressing tubular parts of the body, e.g. blood vessels, umbilical cord specially adapted for vas deferens or fallopian tubes A61F6/20; materials for ligaturing blood vessels A61L17/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/128 for applying or removing clamps or clips
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1285 for minimally invasive surgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00407 Ratchet means
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 227/901 Surgical clip appliers

Abstract

A surgical clip applier and methods for applying surgical clips to a vessel, duct, shunt, etc., during a surgical procedure are provided. In one exemplary embodiment, a surgical clip applier is provided having a housing with a trigger movably coupled thereto and an elongate shaft extending therefrom with opposed jaws formed on a distal end thereof. The trigger is adapted to advance a clip to position the clip between the jaws, and to move the jaws from an open position to a closed position to crimp the clip positioned therebetween.

Claims

1. A surgical clip applier, comprising:

a handle housing having a trigger coupled thereto;

an elongate shaft extending from the handle housing and having opposed jaws formed on a distal end thereof and movable between an open position and a closed position;

a clip advancing assembly disposed within the elongate shaft for advancing at least one clip through the elongate shaft to position a clip between the opposed jaws; and

a flexible link disposed within the handle housing and adapted to transfer motion from the trigger to the clip advancing assembly to cause the clip advancing assembly to advance at least one clip in response to movement of the trigger.

2. The surgical clip applier of claim 1, wherein the flexible link is pivotally disposed within the housing and extends between the clip advancing assembly and a trigger insert that is coupled to the trigger.

3. The surgical clip applier of claim 2, wherein the clip advancing assembly includes a feed bar extending through the elongate shaft and having a distal end adapted to distally advance at least one clip through the elongate shaft, and a proximal end coupled to a feed bar coupler for receiving a portion of the flexible link.

4. The surgical clip applier of claim 3, wherein the flexible link includes a first end adapted to be received within a recess formed within the feed bar coupler, and a second end adapted to be received within a recess formed in the trigger insert.

5. The surgical clip applier of claim 4, wherein the flexible link is adapted to pivot about a transverse axis located between the first and second ends and extending substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis extending between the first and second ends.

6. The surgical clip applier of claim 1, wherein the flexible link is adapted to flex when the trigger is moved toward a closed position.

7. The surgical clip applier of claim 1, wherein the flexible link is formed from a polymer.

8. The surgical clip applier of claim 1, wherein the flexible link is formed from a metal.

9. A clip advancing assembly for use with a surgical clip applier, comprising:

a clip advancing shaft adapted to be disposed within an elongate shaft of a surgical clip applier and to advance at least one surgical clip upon distal movement thereof;

a trigger insert adapted to be disposed within a housing of a surgical clip applier and to couple to a trigger movable relative to the housing such that movement of the trigger is effective to move the trigger insert; and

a flexible link adapted to be pivotally disposed within the housing and to extend between the trigger insert and the clip advancing shaft such that movement of the trigger insert is effective to cause the flexible link to pivot and thereby cause the clip advancing shaft to move distally.

10. The clip advancing assembly of claim 9, wherein the clip advancing shaft comprises a feed bar having a proximal end adapted to couple to the flexible link.

11. The clip advancing assembly of claim 10, wherein the proximal end of the feed bar includes a coupler for coupling to the flexible link.

12. The clip advancing assembly of claim 11, wherein the coupler comprises opposed annular flanges defining an annular groove therebetween for seating a portion of the flexible link.

13. The clip advancing assembly of claim 12, wherein the flexible link includes opposed arms that are adapted to be received within the annular groove.

14. The clip advancing assembly of claim 9, wherein the trigger insert includes a recess formed therein for receiving a portion of the flexible link.

15. The clip advancing assembly of claim 9, wherein the flexible link is adapted to pivot about a transverse axis located between opposed first and second ends and extending substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis extending between the first and second ends.

16. The clip advancing assembly of claim 15, wherein the first end is adapted to couple to the clip advancing shaft and the second end is adapted to couple to the trigger insert, and wherein the transverse axis is located substantially adjacent to the second end.

17. A surgical clip applier, comprising:

a clip advancing assembly coupled to a trigger and adapted to advance at least one surgical clip through an elongate shaft extending from a housing;

a clip forming assembly coupled to a trigger and adapted to actuate a jaw assembly formed on a distal end of the elongate shaft to form a surgical clip; and

a trigger coupled to the housing and adapted to actuate the clip advancing assembly and the clip forming assembly, wherein the trigger has two sequential stages of actuation, the trigger being effective to actuate the clip advancing assembly during the first stage of actuation, and the trigger being effective to actuate the clip forming assembly and being pliant relative to the clip advancing assembly during the second stage of actuation.

18. The surgical clip applier of claim 17, wherein the trigger and the clip advancing assembly are coupled by a flexible link.

19. The surgical clip applier of claim 18, further comprising a trigger insert coupled between the trigger and the flexible link, the trigger insert being adapted to pivot with the trigger during the first and second stages of actuation.

20. The surgical clip applier of claim 19, wherein the trigger insert is adapted to cause the flexible link to pivot and flex during the first stage of actuation, and wherein the trigger insert is adapted to maintain the flexible link in a flexed position during the second stage of actuation.

21. A method for advancing a surgical clip in a surgical clip applier, comprising:

moving a trigger coupled to a housing toward a closed position to cause a flexible link disposed within the housing to pivot and distally advance a clip advancing assembly disposed within an elongate shaft extending from the housing to at least initiate advancement of a clip into opposed jaws formed on a distal end of the elongate shaft;

further moving the trigger toward the closed position to cause the flexible link to flex such that the clip advancing assembly is maintained in a substantially fixed position while a clip forming assembly is distally advanced to cause opposed jaws formed on a distal end of the elongate shaft to close and thereby close the clip positioned therebetween.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising releasing the trigger to an open position to cause the flexible link to pivot in an opposite direction and proximally retract the clip advancing assembly.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the flexible link extends between a trigger insert coupled to the trigger and the clip advancing assembly.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein movement of the trigger causes the trigger insert to pivot, thereby causing the flexible link to pivot.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the clip advancing assembly comprises a feed bar having a coupling member formed on a proximal end thereof and coupled to the feed link.