Clip retention for surgical clip applier

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12484902-B2
Application number	US-202418594135-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 4, 2024
Priority date	Aug 10, 2017
Publication date	Dec 2, 2025
Grant date	Dec 2, 2025

Abstract

A surgical clip applier is provided that includes first and second jaws on a distal end of an elongate shaft, a clip advancing assembly extending through the shaft and configured to advance a distal-most clip from a plurality of clips in the shaft into the first and second jaws. The jaws have opposed inward facing surfaces, and each inward facing surface has a clip track defined therein for receiving and guiding legs of a clip into the first and second jaws. The clip track of at least one of the jaws has at least one deflectable clip retention member disposed therein and configured to apply a biasing force to a leg of a clip disposed within the jaws to thereby retain the clip within the jaws and maintain alignment of the clip with respect to the jaws. The clip track of at least one of the jaws may also have at least one recess or protrusion designed to be complementary to and mate with a protrusion or recess in a clip.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A surgical clip applier comprising:
an elongate shaft having on its distal end a first jaw and a second jaw, wherein the first jaw and the second jaw are movable between open and closed positions, wherein the first jaw comprises a first inward facing surface and the second jaw comprises a second inward facing surface, wherein the first inward facing surface comprises a first clip guide channel and the second inward facing surface comprises a second clip guide channel, and wherein the first inward facing surface has a first protrusion that extends into the first clip guide channel and a second protrusion that extends into the second clip guide channel; and a clip advancing assembly extending through the elongate shaft, wherein the clip advancing assembly is configured to advance a plurality of clips through the elongate shaft to advance a distal-most clip of the plurality of clips into the first jaw and the second jaw, wherein the first protrusion associated with the first inward facing surface and the second protrusion associated with the second inward facing surface are configured to extend into respective complementary recesses on legs of the distal-most clip, wherein each clip guide channel is configured to receive and guide the legs of the distal-most clip into the first jaw and the second jaw, wherein each leg of the distal-most clip is enclosed by its corresponding upper and lower rails, and wherein each jaw of the first jaw and the second jaw is removably coupled to its respective upper and lower rails.

2 . The surgical clip applier of claim 1 , wherein the first jaw is an upper jaw and the second jaw is a lower jaw, and wherein the first inward facing surface and the second inward facing surface extend between the respective upper and lower rails of the first jaw and the second jaw.

3 . The surgical clip applier of claim 1 , wherein each jaw of the first jaw and the second jaw is removably coupled to frictionally engage with its respective upper and lower rails.

4 . The surgical clip applier of claim 1 , wherein each of the first protrusion of the first inward facing surface and the second protrusion of the second inward facing surface has a a rectangular cross-sectional shape or a triangular cross-sectional shape.

5 . The surgical clip applier of claim 1 , wherein each of the first protrusion of the first inward facing surface and the second protrusion of the second inward facing surface is part of a respective plurality of protrusions configured to extend into the respective complementary recesses on the legs of the distal-most clip.

6 . The surgical clip applier of claim 1 , wherein each of the first protrusion of the first inward facing surface and the second protrusion of the second inward facing surface are configured to extend only partially through the respective legs of the distal-most clip.

7 . The surgical clip applier of claim 1 , wherein each of a first length of the first protrusion of the first inward facing surface and a second length of the second protrusion of each the second inward facing surface correspond to a length of one of the respective complementary recesses on the legs of the distal-most clip.

8 . The surgical clip applier of claim 1 , wherein each of a first length of the first protrusion of the first inward facing surface and a second length of the second protrusion of each the second inward facing surface differ from a length of one of the respective complementary recesses on the legs of the distal-most clip.

9 . A surgical clip applier, comprising:
an elongate shaft; first and second jaws disposed on a distal end of the elongate shaft, wherein the first and second jaws being are movable between open and closed positions for engaging a tissue therebetween, each of the first and second jaws comprising:
a jaw body including an inward facing surface including a protrusion,
an upper rail disposed above the jaw body, and
a lower rail disposed below the jaw body, wherein the inward facing surface, the upper rail, and the lower rail defining define a clip guide channel, wherein the upper rail and the lower rail are removably coupled to the jaw body; and
a clip advancing assembly extending through the elongate shaft and configured to advance a plurality of clips through the elongate shaft and to advance a distal-most clip of the plurality of clips into the clip guide channel of the first and second jaws, wherein the protrusions on the inward facing surfaces of the first and second jaws extend towards each other and wherein the protrusions are configured to extend into respective complementary recesses on legs of the distal-most clip.

10 . The surgical clip applier of claim 9 , wherein the upper rail and the lower rail are coupled to respective jaw bodies of the first and second jaws via a frictional fit.

11 . The surgical clip applier of claim 9 , wherein each protrusion on the inward facing surfaces has a shape selected from a group consisting of a rectangular cross-section and a triangular cross-section.

12 . The surgical clip applier of claim 9 , wherein each the protrusion on the inward facing surfaces is part of a plurality of protrusions configured to extend into the respective complementary recesses on the legs of the distal-most clip.

13 . The surgical clip applier of claim 9 , wherein each protrusion on the inward facing surfaces is configured to extend only partially through the legs of the distal-most clip.

14 . The surgical clip applier of claim 9 , wherein the length of each protrusion on the inward facing surfaces corresponds to the length of its respective complementary recess on the legs of the distal-most clip.

15 . The surgical clip applier of claim 9 , wherein the length of each protrusion on the inward facing surfaces differs from that of its respective complementary recess on the legs of the distal-most clip.

Assignees

• Cilag Gmbh Int

Inventors

• Stokes Michael J
• Scott Gregory G
• Murray Michael A
• Laurent Ryan J
• Labhasetwar Disha V

Classifications

• A61L2400/16

  Materials with shape-memory or superelastic properties · CPC title

• A61L31/14

  Materials characterised by their function or physical properties {, e.g. injectable or lubricating compositions, shape-memory materials, surface modified materials} · CPC title

• A61L31/06

  obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds {(A61L31/041 takes precedence)} · CPC title

• A61B2017/00884

  enhancing wound closure · CPC title

• A61B2017/00367

  Details of actuation of instruments, e.g. relations between pushing buttons, or the like, and activation of the tool, working tip, or the like · CPC title