Tissue-fixing surgical instrument, tissue-fixing device, and method of fixing tissues

• US 5,797,931 A
• Filed: 03/22/1996
• Issued: 08/25/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Olympus Optical Corporation Limited (Olympus Corporation)
• Inventors: Kuramoto, Seiji, Mukaizawa, Akito, Uchiyama, Naoki, Kimura, Shuichi, Tsukagoshi, Tsuyoshi, Hirao, Isami, Tsuruta, Minoru, Suzuta, Toshihiko, Nakada, Akio, Bito, Shiro, Oozeki, Kazuhiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Jackson, Gary
• Application Number:
  US08/620,364
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 606/139, 606/142, 606/143, 606/151, 606/157, 606/158, 606/27
• US Class Current: 606/151
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/064 Surgical staples, i.e. penetrating the tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/0684 having a forming anvil staying above the tissue during stapling
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/08 Wound clamps or clips, i.e. not or only partly penetrating the tissue suture bridges A61B17/0466; Devices for bringing together the edges of a wound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/10 for applying or removing wound clamps, e.g. containing only one clamp or staple A61B17/076 takes precedence; containing multiple wound clamps A61B17/068; Wound clamp magazines containers, packaging elements or packages specially adapted for particular articles or with special means for dispensing contents B65D83/00, B65D85/00
• 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 17/122 Clamps or clips , e.g. for the umbilical cord for the vas deferens A61F6/206
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/1285 for minimally invasive surgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0641 having at least three legs as part of one single body

Abstract

A surgical instrument for fastening together opposing portions of a body organ. The instrument comprises a first support for supporting the first opposing portion of the body organ, a second support opposing the first support, for supporting the second opposing portion of the body organ, and a displacement-preventing member connected to the first or second support for preventing the supports from displacing relative to each other. The member comprises a pin protruding from one of the supports and a hole formed in the other of the supports. The pin is made of thermoplastic resin. When heated, the pin is softened and deformed, whereby the first and second supports are secured to each other, fastening together the opposing portions of the body organ.

Claims

1. A surgical instrument for applying and clamping a surgical clip, comprising:

a surgical clip having a first clamping portion, a second clamping portion, and a connecting portion which connects the first clamping portion and the second clamping portion together, said surgical clip being made of a thermoplastic resin which is softened when heated;

a clip applicator having a holding portion for holding said surgical clip;

an ultrasonic oscillation device for inducing heat in said surgical clip and for softening at least a part of said thermoplastic resin of said surgical clip; and

an operating device for deforming said at least a part of said softened thermoplastic resin of said surgical clip and clamping said first and second clamping portions together.

2. A method of clamping a surgical clip so as to clip an object, comprising the steps of:

providing a clip applicator which is adapted to deploy the surgical clip;

loading a surgical clip into the clip applicator, said surgical clip being formed of a thermoplastic resin and including a pair of legs and a connecting portion which couples the legs together, said surgical clip being held in the clip applicator, with the legs open and spaced apart from each other;

inducing heat in the surgical clip by ultrasonic oscillation after the surgical clip is brought into contact with an ultrasonic oscillator to heat and soften at least a part of said thermoplastic resin of said surgical clip; and

closing the legs of said surgical clip to clamp the legs together, said heat inducing step and said leg closing step being executed in an arbitrary order.

3. A surgical instrument for applying and clamping a clip, comprising:

a surgical clip having a first clamping portion, a second clamping portion, and a connecting portion which connects the first clamping portion and the second clamping portion together, said surgical clip being made of a thermoplastic resin which is softened when heated;

a clip applicator, said clip applicator including;

a clip holder portion;

a clip container for containing a plurality of clips;

a clip feed device for feeding a clip to the clip holder portion from the clip container;

an operating device for operating the clip feed device to feed a clip to the clip holder portion;

a closing device for closing the first and second clamping portions of the clip attached to the clip holder portion;

an ultrasonic oscillation device for inducing heat in said surgical clip and for softening at least a part of said thermoplastic resin of said surgical clip; and

an operating device for deforming said at least a part of said softened thermoplastic resin of said surgical clip and clamping said first and second clamping portions together, said surgical clip being attached to the clip holder portion;

and wherein;

the clip feed device includes a pushing device for pushing out a clip to the clip holder portion from the clip containers and

the clip holder portion includes a force converting device which converts a force of the pushing device into a force for closing the clip.

4. A surgical instrument according to claim 3, wherein the pushing device comprises a plate spring pushing member for pushing out the clip of the clip container to the clip holder portion.

5. A surgical instrument according to claim 3, wherein the force converting device comprises a slanting surface portion formed on the clip holder portion, and wherein a force for pushing the clip is converted into a force for closing the clip by the slanting surface portion when the clip is pushed to the clip holder portion by the pushing device.

6. A surgical instrument according to claim 3, wherein a space occupied by the force converting device is parallel to the clip container and to the ultrasonic oscillation device.

7. A surgical instrument for applying and clamping a clip, comprising:

a surgical clip having a first clamping portion, a second clamping portion, and a connecting portion which connects the first clamping portion and the second clamping portion together, said surgical clip being made of a thermoplastic resin which is softened when heated;

a clip applicator, said clip applicator including;

a clip holder portion;

a clip container for containing a plurality of clips;

a clip feed device for feeding a clip to the clip holder portion from the clip container;

an operating device for operating the clip feed device to feed a clip to the clip holder portion;

a closing device for closing the first and second clamping portions of the clip attached to the clip holder portion;

an ultrasonic oscillation device for inducing heat in said surgical clip and for softening at least a part of said thermoplastic resin of said surgical clip; and

an operating device for deforming said at least a part of said softened thermoplastic resin of said surgical clip and clamping said first and second clamping portions together, said surgical clip being attached to the clip holder portion;

and wherein the ultrasonic oscillation device includes a rod-like member for transmitting an ultrasonic wave to the clip, with an end of the rod-like member in contact with the clip, and wherein the end of the rod-like member is kept away from the clip holder portion when the ultrasonic oscillation device is not operated.

8. A surgical instrument according to claim 7, further comprising a guide passage, connected from the clip container to the clip holder portion, said guide passage being arranged for guiding a clip fed from the clip container to the clip holder portion, and said guide passage being provided at a position in front of the end of the rod-like member where the rod-like member is kept away from the clip holder portion.

9. A surgical instrument according to claim 8, wherein said guide passage and the clip holder portion have a common holder groove.

10. A surgical instrument according to claim 8, wherein the clip holder portion has a stopper arranged for stopping the clip.

11. A surgical instrument according to claim 10, wherein the stopper comprises a colliding surface having a surface substantially perpendicular to the slanting surface.

12. A surgical instrument for applying and clamping a clip, comprising:

a surgical clip having a first clamping portion, a second clamping portion, and a connecting portion which connects the first clamping portion and the second clamping portion together, said surgical clip being made of a thermoplastic resin which is softened when heated;

a clip applicator, said clip applicator including;

a clip holder portion;

a clip container for containing a plurality of clips;

a clip feed device for feeding a clip to the clip holder portion from the clip container;

an operating device for operating the clip feed device to feed a clip to the clip holder portion;

a closing device for closing the first and second clamping portions of the clip attached to the clip holder portion;

an ultrasonic oscillation device for inducing heat in said surgical clip and for softening at least a part of said thermoplastic resin of said surgical clip; and

an operating device for deforming said at least a part of said softened thermoplastic resin of said surgical clip and clamping said first and second clamping portions together, said surgical clip being attached to the clip holder portion.

13. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, wherein the clip container is arranged in parallel to the ultrasonic oscillation device.

14. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, wherein the clip container contains the clips disposed in a line, with each of the clips opened linearly.

15. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, wherein the clip container contains the clips, with each of the clips disposed linearly, and wherein each of the clips is attached to the clip holder portion, with said first and second clamping portions extending at an angle of approximately 90°

with respect to each other.

16. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, wherein the clip further comprises a concave portion provided in a lower surface of the clip and connected to a lower surface of the connecting portion.

17. A surgical instrument according to claim 16, wherein at least one of slanting surfaces of the concave portion extends at an angle of 50°

or more with respect to an upper surface portion of the clamping portion.

18. A surgical instrument according to claim 17, wherein the clip is made of organism absorptive resin.

19. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, wherein the clip has a portion arranged to be engaged with the clip feed device, near the connecting portion.

20. A surgical instrument according to claim 19, wherein the portion to be engaged comprises a convex portion.

21. A surgical instrument according to claim 19, wherein the portion to be engaged comprises a concave portion.

22. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, wherein a concave portion and a convex portion which are arranged to be engaged with each other are respectively provided on said first clamping portion and said second clamping portion of the clip.

23. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, wherein the clip is made of organism adaptive resin.

24. A surgical instrument according to claim 23, wherein the organism adaptive resin is made of copolymer.

25. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, wherein the connecting portion of the clip comprises a hinge portion which includes a thin portion.

26. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, further comprising a passage connected from the clip container to the clip holder portion, and wherein said passage has a slanting surface for guiding a clip fed from the clip container to the clip holder portion.

27. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, further comprising an operating portion and an elongated portion including the clip holder portion, and wherein the elongated portion is attachable to and detachable from the operating portion.

28. A surgical instrument according to claim 27, wherein said ultrasonic-oscillation device comprises a unit including an oscillation transmission member and a transducer, and is attachable to, and detachable from the operating portion.

29. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, further comprising an operating portion and an elongated portion including the clip holder portion, and wherein the elongated portion is rotatable with respect to the operating portion.

30. A surgical instrument according to claim 12, further comprising an elongated portion including an operating portion and the clip holder portion, and wherein the clip holder portion has a distal end opening portion at an end portion of the elongated portion, said distal end portion being open to a side of the end portion of the elongated portion.