Surgical buttress retention via flared lateral recesses
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical stapling apparatuses for endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures face challenges in reducing complexity and improving the application of surgical buttresses, which are essential for reinforcing staple lines, especially in minimally invasive surgeries where small incisions require precise and efficient tissue stapling.
Innovation Solution
The surgical stapling apparatus incorporates a housing with an end effector featuring jaw member assemblies, fastener retaining slots, and forming pockets, along with surgical buttresses made from materials like polyglytone 6211, glycolide, caprolactone, and trimethylene carbonate, which are secured using flared lateral recesses to enhance retention and application efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surgical buttresses are used to reinforce staple lines in endoscopic surgery, then the reliability of tissue joining is improved, but the device complexity and difficulty of application through small incisions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical buttress is divided into multiple segments or sections that can be independently manipulated and applied. Each segment can be separately inserted through the end effector's jaw members and positioned along the staple line, reducing the complexity of applying a single large buttress through small incisions while maintaining reinforcement reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical buttress is designed to be nested within or between the jaw member assemblies of the end effector during application. The buttress material can be contained within a delivery mechanism or positioned between the opposing jaw members, allowing it to be inserted through small incisions and then deployed at the surgical site, thereby reducing application complexity while ensuring proper positioning for reliable tissue joining
2Reliability
If traditional surgical buttress application methods are used, then comprehensive tissue reinforcement is achieved, but the ease of operation and application efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical buttress is pre-positioned or pre-configured within the end effector's jaw member assemblies before the stapling procedure begins. This preliminary positioning allows the buttress to be automatically applied or easily deployed during the stapling operation, eliminating the need for separate manual application steps and improving ease of operation while ensuring comprehensive tissue reinforcement
Solution Approach 2:
The end effector's jaw member assemblies are designed to automatically position and apply the surgical buttress during the normal stapling operation. The mechanical action of closing the jaw members or driving the staples automatically places the buttress in the correct position between the tissue layers, making the application process as easy as performing the stapling itself while ensuring effective reinforcement
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical stapling apparatus includes a housing and an end effector secured to the housing. The housing supports a knife assembly including a knife. The end effector has first and second jaw members. One or both of the first and second jaw members define a knife channel. The first jaw member defines fastener slots and the second jaw member defines fastener pockets. One or more of the knife channel, the fastener slots, and the fastener pockets includes lateral recesses. Fasteners are disposed in the fastener slots and formed by the fastener pockets. One or more surgical buttresses have a body that overlies one or both of the fastener slots and the fastener pockets. Portions of the body of the one or more surgical buttresses are disposed within the lateral recesses to secure the one or more surgical buttresses to one or both of the first jaw member and the second jaw member.