Surgical Stapling Instrument Adjustable Tissue Gap Coupling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical instruments face challenges in accommodating tissues of varying sizes, shapes, and thicknesses, often requiring complicated gap-setting mechanisms or multiple instruments, which can lead to increased complications and inefficiencies during minimally invasive surgeries.
Innovation Solution
A surgical instrument with an elongate shaft and end effector featuring a coupling member that can securely receive and adjust different reloads, allowing for varying tissue gaps between jaws, enabling the same instrument to handle diverse tissue properties without complex gap-setting mechanisms, and including an actuator to translate the reload between closed positions for optimal tissue engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a single surgical instrument is used to accommodate tissues of varying sizes and thicknesses, then the need for multiple instruments is reduced, but the device complexity increases due to the need for adjustable gap mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical instrument incorporates a movable jaw that can be dynamically adjusted between multiple closed positions relative to the stationary jaw, allowing the tissue gap to be changed during the surgical procedure. This dynamic adjustment capability enables the single instrument to adapt to tissues of varying sizes and thicknesses without requiring multiple fixed-gap instruments
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical instrument is divided into distinct modular components including a stationary jaw, a movable jaw, and an actuator system. The movable jaw can be independently positioned at multiple discrete locations, creating segmentable gap settings that provide versatility while maintaining manageable device complexity through modular design
2Manufacturing precision
If multiple instruments are used to handle different tissue properties, then the precision for each tissue type is optimized, but the loss of time increases due to instrument changes
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical instrument is designed as a universal platform that can handle multiple tissue types and properties through a single instrument. The stationary jaw and movable jaw configuration with adjustable gap settings allows the same instrument to precisely accommodate small, medium, and large tissues, eliminating the need to switch between multiple specialized instruments during the surgical procedure
3Adaptability or versatility
If complicated gap-setting mechanisms are used to accommodate varying tissue sizes, then the adaptability is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The surgical instrument incorporates a spring-loaded movable jaw that automatically returns to its initial position after being actuated. The actuator mechanism is designed to be simple and intuitive, allowing the surgeon to easily adjust the gap setting by simply actuating the mechanism without requiring complex procedures or multiple steps, thereby maintaining ease of operation while providing adaptability
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical instrument includes an elongate shaft and an end effector. The end effector includes a jaw, and a coupling member configured to receive a first and second reload and to removably couple the first and second reload to the end effector. The coupling member is configured to retain the first reload in a closed position relative to the jaw such that the jaw and the first reload have a tissue gap therebetween. The coupling member is configured to retain the second reload in a closed position relative to the jaw such that the jaw and the second reload have a tissue gap therebetween that is larger than the first tissue gap. The instrument is designed to accommodate reloads with different tissue gaps between the first jaw and the reload, thereby allowing an operator to treat tissue of varying sizes, shapes and thicknesses with the same surgical instrument.