Surgical stapling instruments including a cartridge having multiple staple sizes
First Claim
1. A replaceable loading unit for a surgical stapling apparatus comprising:
- a) a cartridge having;
i) at least two cartridge tissue contacting surfaces, one of the cartridge tissue contacting surfaces having a different height than the other, ii) the at least two cartridge tissue contacting surfaces defining retention slots for retaining staples, iii) the staples in the retention slots including at least a first staple and a second staple, the first staple having a first leg length different from a second leg length of the second staple.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A surgical stapling apparatus includes a staple cartridge and an anvil member. The staple cartridge includes a plurality of surgical fasteners disposed in rows of retention slots. The staple cartridge may have an annular or linear configuration of retention slots. The tissue contacting surface of the staple cartridge may be tapered or stepped. The anvil member has a tissue contacting surface that includes a number of pockets arranged for substantially aligning with the retention slots. In addition, the tissue contacting surface of the anvil member may complement the tissue contacting surface of the staple cartridge.
913 Citations
36 Claims
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1. A replaceable loading unit for a surgical stapling apparatus comprising:
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a) a cartridge having;
i) at least two cartridge tissue contacting surfaces, one of the cartridge tissue contacting surfaces having a different height than the other, ii) the at least two cartridge tissue contacting surfaces defining retention slots for retaining staples, iii) the staples in the retention slots including at least a first staple and a second staple, the first staple having a first leg length different from a second leg length of the second staple. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A surgical stapling apparatus comprising:
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a) an anvil having an anvil tissue contacting surface defining staple forming depressions;
b) a cartridge having;
i) a first tissue contacting surface and a second tissue contacting surface, the first tissue contacting surface having a first height and the second tissue contacting surface having a second height, the first height being greater than the second height, ii) the first and second tissue contacting surfaces defining retention slots for retaining staples, and iii) the staples in the retention slots of the second tissue contacting surface having a larger leg length than the staples in the retention slots of the first tissue contacting surface. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification