Surgical suturing instrument and method
First Claim
1. A surgical instrument for suturing an opening in internal body tissues of a patient from inside the body cavity of the patient, said instrument comprising:
- elongate frame means for providing a superstructure for the instrument;
staple storing means on said frame means for temporarily storing at least one staple;
staple forming and ejection means at least in part movably mounted to said frame means for ejecting said staple from said stable storing means into the body tissues of the patient and deforming said staple from an open position to a closed position in which said staple holds together two pieces of body tissue on opposite sides of said opening;
first actuating means at least in part movably mounted to said frame means and connected to said staple forming and ejection means for moving at least a portion thereof;
tissue positioning means separate from said staple forming and ejection means and mounted to said frame means for gripping, approximating and temporarily holding in a stapling position said two pieces of body tissue prior to and during a stapling operation; and
second actuating means separate from said first actuating means for moving at least a portion of said tissue positioning means prior to said stapling operation, said second actuating means being at least in part movably mounted to said frame means and connected to said tissue positioning means.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A surgical instrument for suturing a hernial opening in internal body tissues of a patient comprises an elongate staple cartridge rotatably mounted to an elongate frame at a distal end thereof and an elongate staple forming plate movably mounted to the frame for ejecting a staple from the cartridge into the body tissues of the patient and deforming the staple from an open position to a closed position in which the staple holds together two pieces of body tissue on opposite sides of the hernial opening. The instrument further includes a rotator assembly operatively connected to the cartridge for rotatating the cartridge from an orientation aligned with the frame means to a staple ejection orientation transverse to the frame. A tissue positioning assembly separate from the staple forming plate is provided for gripping, approximating and temporarily holding together in a stapling position the two pieces of body tissue prior to and during a stapling operation.
1692 Citations
58 Claims
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1. A surgical instrument for suturing an opening in internal body tissues of a patient from inside the body cavity of the patient, said instrument comprising:
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elongate frame means for providing a superstructure for the instrument; staple storing means on said frame means for temporarily storing at least one staple; staple forming and ejection means at least in part movably mounted to said frame means for ejecting said staple from said stable storing means into the body tissues of the patient and deforming said staple from an open position to a closed position in which said staple holds together two pieces of body tissue on opposite sides of said opening; first actuating means at least in part movably mounted to said frame means and connected to said staple forming and ejection means for moving at least a portion thereof; tissue positioning means separate from said staple forming and ejection means and mounted to said frame means for gripping, approximating and temporarily holding in a stapling position said two pieces of body tissue prior to and during a stapling operation; and second actuating means separate from said first actuating means for moving at least a portion of said tissue positioning means prior to said stapling operation, said second actuating means being at least in part movably mounted to said frame means and connected to said tissue positioning means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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9. A surgical instrument for suturing internal body tissues of a patient reached through a relatively small incision, comprising:
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an elongate relatively narrow frame suitable to be passed through said relatively small incision; a staple cartridge mounted to said elongate frame; means for moving said stable cartridge from a first orientation aligned with said frame and not substantially increasing the profile of said frame to a second orientation transverse to said frame for staple ejection, whereby said frame may be passed through said relatively small incision when said cartridge is in said first orientation aligned with said frame means and then said cartridge may be moved to said second orientation transverse to said frame for staple ejection; and means for ejecting a staple into the internal body tissues of said patient and for closing said staple. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A surgical instrument for suturing an opening in internal body tissues of a patient from inside the body cavity of the patient, said instrument comprising:
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elongate frame means for providing a superstructure for the instrument; staple storing means on said frame means for temporarily storing at least one staple, said staple storing means including an elongate staple cartridge rotatably mounted to said frame means at a distal end thereof, and further comprising rotator means operatively connected to said cartridge for rotating said cartridge from an orientation aligned with said frame means to a staple ejection orientation transverse to said frame means; staple forming and ejection means at least in part movably mounted to said frame means for ejecting said staple from said stable storing means into said body tissues and deforming said staple from an open position to a closed position in which said staple holds together two pieces of body tissue on opposite sides of said opening; first actuating means at least in part movably mounted to said frame means and connected to said staple forming and ejection means for moving at least a portion thereof; tissue positioning means separate from said staple forming and ejection means and mounted to said frame means for gripping, approximating and temporarily holding in a stapling position said two pieces of body tissue prior to and during a stapling operation; second actuating means separate from said first actuating means for moving at least a portion of said tissue positioning means prior to said stapling operation, said second actuating means being at least in part movably mounted to said frame means and connected to said tissue positioning means. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A surgical instrument for suturing an opening in internal body tissues of a patient from inside a body cavity of the patient, said instrument comprising:
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elongate frame means for providing a superstructure for said instrument; staple storing means on said frame means for temporarily storing at least one staple, said staple storing means including an elongate staple cartridge rotatably mounted to said frame means at a distal end thereof; rotator means mounted to said frame means and operatively connected to said cartridge for rotating said cartridge from an orientation aligned with said frame means to a staple ejection orientation transverse to said frame means; and staple forming and ejection means at least in part movably mounted to said frame means for ejecting said staple from said stable storing means into the body tissues of the patient upon the termination of a rotation operation and deforming said staple from an open position to a closed position in which said staple holds together two pieces of body tissue on opposite sides of said opening. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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Specification