Suture Release Assembly for Surgical Buttress Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical stapling apparatuses face challenges in securely attaching and maintaining a buttress material in place during endoscopic or laparoscopic procedures, leading to potential shifting and reduced effectiveness in reinforcing the staple line, especially when dealing with thin or fragile tissues.
Innovation Solution
The surgical stapling apparatus incorporates a suture release assembly that secures a surgical buttress to the tissue-contacting surface of the cartridge or anvil assembly using anchors and sutures, ensuring the buttress remains in place over staple retaining slots and staple forming pockets along the entire length, with mechanisms to automatically release the buttress upon firing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If buttress material is placed against tissue and stapled in conventional manner, then reinforcement of staple line is achieved, but buttress material may shift in position relative to staple cartridge and anvil assemblies during grasping and manipulation of tissue
Solution Approach 1:
The buttress material is pre-secured to the tissue-contacting surfaces of both the staple cartridge assembly and anvil assembly before the stapling procedure begins. This preliminary attachment ensures the buttress remains in the correct position during tissue manipulation and stapling operations, eliminating the need for separate positioning steps and preventing shifts that would compromise reinforcement effectiveness.
2Reliability
If multiple attachment points are used to secure buttress material, then position stability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment system is segmented into multiple independent attachment points distributed across the tissue-contacting surfaces of the staple cartridge and anvil assemblies. Each attachment point operates independently, providing stable fixation of the buttress material without requiring a complex integrated mechanism. This segmentation allows the buttress to be securely held at multiple locations while maintaining simplicity in the overall device design.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 2A
AI summary
A loading unit (16) for use with a surgical stapling apparatus (10) including a tool assembly (17) and a surgical buttress (B1, B2). The tool assembly includes: a cartridge assembly (18, 118, 418) including a staple cartridge (82, 182, 482) having a tissue facing surface , staple retaining pockets (82a) having a plurality of surgical fasteners (84) therein, and a knife slot (82c, 182c, 482c); and an anvil assembly (20, 120, 220, 320, 520) including an anvil plate (70, 170, 270, 370, 570) having a tissue facing surface defining staple forming pockets (70a) and a knife slot (70b, 170b, 270b, 370b). The surgical buttress is attached to the tissue facing surface of at least one of the cartridge assembly or the anvil assembly, and conforms to the tissue facing surface such that the surgical buttress is deformed locally into the staple retaining pockets and the knife slot of the cartridge assembly or the staple forming pockets and the knife slot of the anvil assembly to which the surgical buttress is attached.