Compliant Buttress for Surgical Stapler Tissue Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical stapling instruments lack a mechanism to prevent staples from pulling through tissue and reduce the risk of tissue tearing at the site of application, particularly in procedures involving varying tissue thicknesses and anatomical structures like veins and bile ducts.
Innovation Solution
Incorporating a buttress material, such as a compressible buttress on the staple cartridge or anvil, which secures the staples and provides additional support to prevent pulling through and reduce tearing, while also featuring a peripheral pinching cartridge with a resilient connection or force sensor to prevent accidental damage to tubular anatomy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If surgical staplers are used to clamp and drive staples through tissue layers, then tissue sealing and cutting are achieved, but staples may pull through tissue and cause tissue tearing
Solution Approach 1:
A buttress material is introduced as an intermediary component between the staple and tissue. This buttress material receives the staple and distributes the clamping force across a larger tissue area, preventing staple pull-through and tissue tearing. The buttress material acts as a mediator that transforms the concentrated staple force into distributed tissue compression.
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical stapling system combines multiple materials with different properties: the staple (metal), buttress material (compressible polymer or foam), and tissue. This composite structure allows the staple to secure the compressible buttress material against the tissue, creating a multi-material system that enhances staple retention while protecting tissue from damage.
2Strength
If the end effector applies sufficient force to secure staples through tissue, then mechanical fastening is improved, but damage to sensitive structures like veins and bile ducts may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The pinching surface is designed with locally differentiated properties: it has a first portion for pinching soft tissue and a second portion for pinching tubular anatomy. Each portion is optimized for its specific function, allowing the end effector to apply appropriate force locally - sufficient for soft tissue fastening while being gentler on sensitive tubular structures.
Solution Approach 2:
The end effector incorporates a resilient connection between the pinching surface and peripheral member, allowing dynamic adjustment of pinching force. This resilient connection enables the pinching surface to deflect and accommodate variations in tissue thickness and compliance, automatically reducing force on softer tubular anatomy while maintaining adequate force on thicker soft tissue.
3Ease of operation
If the pinching surface is positioned at a height above the staple legs to prevent snagging, then ease of operation is improved, but the ability to provide uniform compression may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The solution moves the compression function from the vertical dimension (pinching surface height) to the horizontal dimension (peripheral member engagement). The peripheral member engages the cartridge body at a level that ensures uniform compression across all staple sites, while the elevated pinching surface prevents staple snagging. This dimensional separation resolves the conflict between ease of operation and compression uniformity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The buttress material enhances the mechanical fastening of staples, reducing the risk of tissue tearing and providing structural integrity, while the peripheral pinching cartridge and force sensor prevent damage to sensitive structures like veins and bile ducts during stapling.
Implementation Method 1
a resilient connection between the pinching surface and the peripheral member, allowing the pinching surface to deflect downwardly toward the peripheral member in response to an external force
Implementation Method 2
The external force sensor is configured to measure an external force applied to the pinching surface
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus includes a body assembly, a shaft extending distally from the body assembly, an end effector attached to the shaft, and a cartridge. The end effector includes a jaw and an anvil pivotable relative to the jaw. The cartridge includes a deck, a plurality of staples, a compressible buttress, a peripheral member, and a pinching surface. The deck has an upper surface facing toward the anvil. The staples are located within openings formed through the deck. Each staple has a pair of legs extending above the upper surface of the deck. The buttress is located on the upper surface of the deck. Portions of the legs of the staples are disposed the buttress. The peripheral member extends above the upper surface of the deck, laterally adjacent to the buttress. The pinching surface is located at a height extending above a height of the legs of the plurality of staples.