Surgical Stapler Tissue Stops and Driver Assemblies
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical staplers face challenges in ensuring proper staple deployment and tissue sealing, particularly in cases where tissue extends beyond the intended cutting line, leading to malformation or failure of staples.
Innovation Solution
The design incorporates a staple cartridge with symmetrically arranged staple apertures and varied staple driver assemblies, including quadruple staple drivers, to ensure proper staple deployment and tissue sealing, with tissue stops preventing excessive tissue proximal movement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If tissue stops are added to prevent excessive tissue movement, then reliability of staple deployment is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Tissue stops are pre-positioned on the anvil before tissue is placed, establishing predetermined boundaries that guide tissue placement and prevent excessive proximal movement during stapling. This preliminary positioning ensures reliable staple deployment without requiring complex active control mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The tissue stops act as intermediary elements between the anvil and the tissue, providing a mechanical interface that limits tissue movement. These stops serve as passive mediators that enforce proper tissue positioning without requiring active intervention or complex control systems.
2Manufacturing precision
If symmetrically arranged staple apertures are used, then manufacturing precision is improved, but adaptability to different tissue configurations decreases
Solution Approach 1:
While the overall aperture arrangement is symmetric for manufacturing precision, the anvil incorporates localized variations such as tissue stops at specific positions and potentially different staple patterns in different zones. This allows the symmetric structure to maintain manufacturing simplicity while local modifications provide adaptability to different tissue configurations and surgical needs.
Data Source
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AI summary
A surgical stapling instrument includes a shaft assembly and an end effector. The end effector includes a first jaw having an anvil, and a second jaw. The instrument also includes a stapling assembly supported by the second jaw and including a plurality of staples, a staple actuator, and a driver assembly. The driver assembly includes a laterally-opposed pair of distal drivers that receive respective staples, a proximal driver that receives a respective staple, and a cam surface.The staple actuator is configured to engage the cam surface during distal translation of the staple actuator to drive the respective staples into contact with the anvil. The staple actuator and the cam surface are configured such that, when the respective staples contact the anvil, the engagement between the staple actuator and the cam surface is centered at a location along the cam surface distal of a centroid of the first driver assembly.