Articulating clip applier cartridge

• US 8,961,542 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2013
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Original Assignee: Covidien LP (Medtronic Plc)
• Inventors: Whitfield, Kenneth, Rethy, Csaba L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Houston, Elizabeth
• Assistant Examiner(s): LYNCH, ROBERT A
• Application Number:
  US13/771,472
• Publication Number:
  US 20130165952A1
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• Field of Search: 606/139, 606/142, 606/143, 606/151, 606/157, 606/158, 606/218, 606/219, 227/901
• US Class Current: 606/143
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/068 Surgical staplers , e.g. containing multiple staples or clampsstaplers containing only one staple A61B17/10; magazines or containers for staples A61B17/105; for performing anastomosis A61B17/115; staplers in general B25C5/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/07207 the staples being applied sequentially
• 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 17/1285 for minimally invasive surgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/07228 Arrangement of the staples
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/2927 the angular position of the head being adjustable with respect to the shaft
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/2929 with a head rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the shaft
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/2943 Toothed members, e.g. rack and pinion

Abstract

An end effector is provided and includes a distal housing portion and a proximal housing portion interconnected to one another by a knuckle portion, wherein the knuckle portion permits rotation of the distal housing portion relative thereto and articulation of the distal housing portion relative to the proximal housing portion; a jaw assembly supported in the distal end of the distal housing portion, the jaw assembly including a first jaw and a second jaw movable between a spaced apart and an approximated position; and a plurality of fasteners loaded within the distal housing portion, each of the plurality of fasteners defining a fastener axis extending in a direction substantially parallel to a pair of legs thereof, each of the plurality of fasteners being arranged within the base portion such that the fastener axis is disposed at an angle with respect to a longitudinal axis of the distal housing portion.

Claims

1. A shaft assembly effector for operative connection to an actuation assembly including an axially reciprocatable drive assembly having a flexible drive cable, the shaft assembly comprising:

a proximal housing portion defining a longitudinal axis;

a distal housing portion defining a proximal end, a distal end, and a longitudinal axis;

a knuckle portion pivotally interconnecting the proximal housing portion and the distal housing portion, the distal housing portion being rotatably mounted to the knuckle portion to allow the distal housing portion to rotate about the longitudinal axis thereof with respect to the knuckle portion, wherein the knuckle portion is bifurcated into a first gear segment and a second gear segment that are integrally formed therewith and that extend proximally from the knuckle portion;

a jaw assembly supported on the distal housing portion, the jaw assembly including a first jaw and a second jaw extending distally from a base portion and being movable between a spaced apart position and an approximated position;

a plurality of surgical clips loaded in the distal housing portion in a partially stacked fashion; and

a jaw closure mechanism disposed in the distal housing portion and operatively associated with the jaw assembly and the plurality of surgical clips,

wherein a distal end of the flexible drive cable extends across the knuckle portion and is connected to the jaw closure mechanism so as to transmit an operative force to the jaw closure mechanism when the longitudinal axis of the distal housing portion is either axially aligned or angled with respect to a longitudinal axis of a surgical handle; and

wherein the jaw closure mechanism feeds a single clip of the plurality of clips into the jaw assembly and forms the fed clip upon a single complete stroke of the flexible drive cable.

2. The shaft assembly according to claim 1, further comprising a gear train supported in the proximal housing portion, wherein a distal-most gear of the gear train is operatively engaged with the first geared portion and the second geared portion of the knuckle portion.

3. The shaft assembly according to claim 2, further comprising a rack slidably supported in the proximal housing portion, wherein the rack defines at least one axial row of gear teeth, and wherein the axial row of gear teeth is engaged with a proximal-most gear of the gear train.

4. The shaft assembly according to claim 3, wherein axial displacement of the rack relative to the proximal housing portion results in articulation of the distal housing portion relative to the proximal housing portion.

5. The shaft assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first geared segment and the second geared segment of the knuckle portion are equally spaced from the longitudinal axis defined by the proximal housing portion.

6. An end effector for application of surgical clips to body tissue, the end effector comprising:

a base portion defining a proximal end, a distal end, and a longitudinal axis;

a knuckle portion extending proximally from the proximal end of the base portion, the base portion being rotatably mounted to the knuckle portion to allow the base portion to rotate about the longitudinal axis with respect to the knuckle portion, wherein the knuckle portion is bifurcated into a first gear segment and a second gear segment that are integrally formed therewith and that extend proximally from the knuckle portion;

a jaw assembly supported on the base portion, the jaw assembly including a first jaw and a second jaw extending distally from the distal portion and being movable between a spaced apart position and an approximated position; and

a plurality of surgical clips located within the base portion, each of the plurality of surgical clips having a pair of legs extending from a backspan, each of the plurality of surgical clips defining a clip axis extending in a direction substantially parallel to the pair of legs, each of the plurality of surgical clips being arranged within the base portion to define an angle between the clip axis and the longitudinal axis, each of the plurality of surgical clips being located adjacent to another of the plurality of surgical clips to form a partially overlapping stack.

7. The end effector according to claim 6, wherein the knuckle portion includes a pivot structure that defines a pivot axis.

8. The end effector according to claim 6, further comprising a jaw closure mechanism operatively connected to the jaw assembly, the jaw closure mechanism providing an approximating force to the first jaw and the second jaw upon a proximal movement of the jaw closure mechanism.

9. The end effector according to claim 6, wherein the plurality of surgical clips are stacked in a non-colinear position with respect to the longitudinal axis.

10. The end effector according to claim 6, wherein the first jaw and the second jaw are angled with respect to the longitudinal axis.

11. The end effector according to claim 10, wherein the legs of the plurality of surgical clips are disposed in a substantially parallel orientation to an orientation of the first jaw and the second jaw.

12. The end effector according to claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of surgical clips has a shape selected from a substantially U-shape and a substantially V-shape.

13. The end effector according to claim 6, wherein the stack of surgical clips defining an axis that extends parallel to the longitudinal axis.

14. The end effector according to claim 6, further comprising a proximal housing portion connected to the knuckle portion such that the base portion is pivotable off-axis with respect to the proximal housing portion.

15. The end effector according to claim 14, wherein the proximal housing portion supports a gear train in a distal region thereof, and wherein a distal-most gear of the gear train is operatively engaged with the first geared portion and the second geared portion of the knuckle portion.

16. The end effector according to claim 15, further comprising a rack slidably supported in a proximal region of the proximal housing portion, wherein the rack defines at least one axial row of gear teeth, and wherein the axial row of gear teeth is engaged with a proximal-most gear of the gear train.

17. The end effector according to claim 16, wherein axial displacement of the rack relative to the proximal housing portion results in articulation of the base portion relative to the proximal housing portion.

18. A shaft assembly for operative connection to a surgical handle assembly including an axially reciprocatable drive assembly having a flexible drive cable extending into the shaft assembly, the shaft assembly comprising:

a proximal housing portion defining a proximal end, a distal end and a longitudinal axis;

a distal housing portion defining a proximal end, a distal end and a longitudinal axis;

a knuckle portion pivotally interconnecting the proximal end of the distal housing portion and the distal end of the proximal housing portion, the knuckle portion being bifurcated into a first gear segment and a second gear segment that are integrally formed therewith and that extend proximally from the knuckle portion, wherein the knuckle portion permits rotation of the distal housing portion about the longitudinal axis thereof and articulation of the distal housing portion relative to the proximal housing portion;

a jaw assembly supported in the distal end of the distal housing portion, the jaw assembly including a first jaw and a second jaw extending distally from the distal housing portion and being movable between a spaced apart position and an approximated position; and

a plurality of surgical clips loaded within the distal housing portion, each of the plurality of surgical clips having a pair of legs extending from a backspan, each of the plurality of surgical clips defining a clip axis extending in a direction substantially parallel to the pair of legs, each of the plurality of surgical clips being arranged within the distal housing portion such that the clip axis is disposed at an angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the distal housing portion, and wherein the plurality of surgical clips are arranged in a partially overlapping stack.

19. The shaft assembly according to claim 18, further comprising a jaw closure mechanism operatively associated with the jaw assembly, the jaw closure mechanism providing an approximating force to the first jaw and the second jaw upon a proximal movement thereof relative to the first jaw and the second jaw.

20. The shaft assembly according to claim 19, wherein the jaw closure mechanism includes a cam plate axially slidably supported in the distal housing portion, wherein the cam plate includes a camming aperture formed therein, wherein the camming aperture has a substantially “

V”

shaped profile, and wherein each of first jaw and second jaw includes a post extending therefrom and into the camming aperture of the cam plate;

wherein movement of the cam plate proximally relative to the first jaw and second jaw engages an edge of the camming aperture against a finger of the first jaw and the second jaw to approximate the first jaw and the second jaw.