SURGICAL STAPLE WITH INTEGRAL PLEDGET FOR TIP DEFLECTION
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A circular stapler apparatus for stapling tissue includes a staple and pledget assembly and a circular staple head operable to drive staples toward an anvil. A staple of the staple and pledget assembly has a pair of legs disposed substantially perpendicular to a crown of the staple in a first position. The pair of legs is operable to advance against a pocket in the anvil to form a staple with bent legs. The staple and pledget assembly includes the staple and a pledget configured to receive the pair of legs of the staple. The pledget comprises a bioabsorbable material. The pledget is configured to advance distal ends of the pair of legs to a position in which the distal ends are laterally offset from a plane in which the crown of the staple is disposed.
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Citations
40 Claims
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1-20. -20. (canceled)
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21. A surgical stapler for stapling tissue, comprising:
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(a) an anvil having a plurality of staple-forming pockets; and (b) a stapling head assembly operable to drive staples against the anvil, wherein the stapling head assembly comprises; (i) a deck having a plurality of openings, wherein the anvil is operable to clamp tissue against the deck, (ii) a plurality of staples disposed within the openings, wherein each staple includes a pair of legs and a crown that define an unformed staple plane, (iii) a staple driver operable to drive each staple from the respective opening toward a respective staple-forming pocket along the respective unformed staple plane, and (iv) a plurality of staple leg deflecting features supported by the deck, wherein each staple leg deflecting feature is configured to deflect the legs of a respective staple away from the respective unformed staple plane when the stapling head assembly is fired. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of forming an array of staples in tissue using a surgical stapler, wherein the surgical stapler comprises an anvil having a plurality of staple-forming pockets and a stapling head assembly comprising a deck having a plurality of openings, a plurality of staples disposed within the openings, and a plurality of staple leg deflecting features supported by the deck, wherein each staple includes a pair of legs and a crown that define an unformed staple plane, wherein the method comprises:
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(a) clamping tissue between the anvil and the deck; (b) advancing the staples from the openings, through the tissue, and into the staple-forming pockets to thereby bend the legs of the staples; and (c) directing the bent legs of the staples away from the anvil to contact the staple leg deflecting features such that the bent legs of each staple deflect away from the respective unformed staple plane. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39)
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40. A surgical stapler for stapling tissue, comprising:
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(a) an anvil having a plurality of staple-forming pockets; (b) a stapling head assembly operable to drive staples toward the staple-forming pockets; and (c) a staple and pledget assembly supported by the stapling head assembly, wherein the staple and pledget assembly comprises; (i) a staple having a pair of legs and a crown that define an unformed staple plane before the staple is driven toward a respective one of the staple-forming pockets, and (ii) a pledget having at least one opening configured to receive the legs of the staple therethrough, wherein the pledget is configured to deflect the legs away from the unformed staple plane when the stapling head assembly is fired.
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Specification