Bent Anvil Tip Angled Cartridge for Surgical Stapler Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical staplers lack efficient mechanisms for articulation and visualization during endoscopic procedures, leading to challenges in maneuverability and ensuring proper tissue engagement and stapling.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates an articulating surgical stapling instrument with a shaft and end effector featuring a pivotable anvil and lower jaw, along with a staple cartridge, which includes a firing beam for simultaneous cutting and stapling, and an angled anvil and cartridge configuration for enhanced visibility and tissue engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a traditional straight anvil and cartridge configuration is used, then the device structure is simple, but maneuverability and visibility during endoscopic procedures are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The anvil is designed with a bent tip configuration that allows it to articulate and adapt to different tissue geometries during endoscopic procedures. The bent anvil tip can pivot and angle relative to the cartridge, enabling dynamic adjustment of the stapling surface to match the curvature and orientation of target tissues, thereby improving maneuverability without requiring a completely complex articulated mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The bent anvil tip introduces an angular dimension to the otherwise linear cartridge-anvil assembly. By bending the anvil tip at a specific angle, the device gains the ability to engage tissue at non-perpendicular orientations, effectively adding a dimensional degree of freedom that improves maneuverability and visibility during minimally invasive procedures
2Measurement precision
If a traditional straight anvil and cartridge configuration is used, then the device structure is simple, but visibility and tissue engagement precision are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
Rather than making the entire anvil and cartridge assembly complex, only the tip regions are modified with specific angular orientations. The bent anvil tip and angled cartridge tip create a localized precision engagement zone that optimizes tissue contact geometry, while the rest of the device structure remains relatively simple
Solution Approach 2:
The anvil tip is deliberately bent at an asymmetric angle rather than being straight or symmetrically configured. This asymmetric geometry allows the distal end of the anvil to align with the angled cartridge tip, creating optimal tissue engagement surfaces that improve precision for specific surgical approaches while maintaining overall structural simplicity
3Productivity
If simultaneous cutting and stapling is implemented, then procedural efficiency is improved, but reliability of complete vessel closure may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The angled cartridge tip is designed to engage and compress the tissue or vessel before the cutting and stapling action occurs. This preliminary compression ensures proper tissue alignment and containment within the end effector, creating optimal conditions for subsequent simultaneous cutting and stapling that reliably achieves complete vessel closure in a single actuation
Data Source
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AI summary
A surgical instrument includes a body portion, a shaft, and an end effector that is operable to compress, staple, and cut tissue. The end effector includes an anvil and a staple cartridge. The anvil has a rigid bent tip configured to contact an angled surface of a nose portion of the staple cartridge. The staple cartridge includes gripping features along a staple deck that assist in gripping tissue during clamping. The staple deck of the cartridge may include multiple levels. The anvil further includes a slot with lateral portions having curved ends for receiving portions of a firing beam to guide the firing beam during a cutting and stapling action.