End effectors, surgical stapling devices, and methods of using same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9724096-B2
Application number	US-201515129366-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 27, 2015
Priority date	Mar 29, 2014
Publication date	Aug 8, 2017
Grant date	Aug 8, 2017

Abstract

An end effector for use by a surgeon to staple an anatomical structure of a patient during a surgical procedure includes an anvil and a cartridge. Each of the anvil and the cartridge has a face that is positionable on the anatomical structure. The anvil is coupled the cartridge at first and second ends. The anvil is movable relative to the cartridge to define a first gap between the faces at the first ends that is less than a second gap between the faces at the second ends. A stapling device includes the end effector coupled to a manipulator via a shaft. The manipulator is accessible to the surgeon. The surgeon uses a clamping mechanism to selectively move the anvil and the cartridge to clamp the anatomical structure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An end effector for use by a surgeon to staple an anatomical structure of a patient during a surgical procedure, the anatomical structure having a first side and a second side, the end effector comprising:
an anvil that includes a first end, a second end, and a face that is positionable on the first side of the anatomical structure; and
a cartridge that is configured to house a plurality of staples and that includes a first end, a second end, and a face that is positionable on the second side of the anatomical structure, the first end of the cartridge is movably coupled to the first end of the anvil and the second end of the cartridge is movably coupled to the second end of the anvil, the anvil being movable relative to the cartridge to define a first gap between the faces at the first ends that is less than a second gap between the faces at the second ends.

2. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the decrease from the first gap to the second gap is determined by an angle of from about 0.1° to about 1°.

3. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the first gap is from about 1.5 mm to about 3.3 mm.

4. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the second gap is from about 2.0 mm to about 5.0 mm.

5. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the first ends define a distal end of the end effector and the second ends define a proximal end of the end effector.

6. The end effector of claim 1 , further comprising:
a shim coupled to the face of at least one of the anvil and the cartridge and defining at least one of the first gap and the second gap.

7. The end effector of claim 6 , wherein each face defines a width and the shim extends the width of at least one of the faces.

8. The end effector of claim 6 , wherein a thickness of the shim varies across a width of the shim.

9. The end effector of claim 1 , further comprising:
a shim that is coupled to the face of at least one of the anvil and the cartridge, the shim having a first end, a second end, and a thickness, the thickness of the shim at the first end being different than the thickness of the shim at the second end.

10. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the faces of the anvil and the cartridge has a stepped configuration including at least two segments that are offset from one another, one segment defines the first gap and the other segment defines the second gap.

11. The end effector of claim 10 , wherein the cartridge includes a plurality of staples and an open leg length of each of the staples in each segment is the same.

12. The end effector of claim 10 , wherein the cartridge includes staples each having an open leg length and the open leg length of one staple in one segment is different from the open leg length of one staple in the other segment.

13. The end effector of claim 10 , wherein the cartridge includes a plurality of staple drivers each having a height and the height of at least two staple drivers are different in a direction from the first end to the second end of the cartridge.

14. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the cartridge includes staples, each staple having an open leg length, the open leg length of at least one staple is different from the open leg length of another staple along a length of the cartridge from the first end to the second end.

15. The end effector of claim 14 , wherein the open leg lengths of the staples are randomly distributed.

16. The end effector of claim 14 , wherein a distribution of the open leg lengths of the staples is based on a probable tissue thickness along the anatomical structure from the first end to the second end.

17. The end effector of claim 14 , wherein the staples are divided into at least two zones of staples, the staples arranged in at least one row and at least one column in each zone, and the open leg length of one staple in one zone differs from the open leg length of another staple in the other zone.

18. The end effector of claim 17 , wherein the cartridge has a first edge and a second edge and one staple in the zone adjacent the first edge has a different open leg length than another staple in the zone adjacent the second edge.

19. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the cartridge includes a plurality of staples divided into at least two zones, and a crown length of one staple in one zone differs from a crown length of another staple in the other zone.

20. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the cartridge includes a plurality of staples divided into at least two zones of staples, and a gauge of one staple in one zone differs from a gauge of another staple in the other zone.

21. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the cartridge includes a plurality of magazines configured to be selectively inserted and removed from the cartridge, each magazine including a plurality of staples arranged in one or more rows and one or more columns.

22. The end effector of claim 21 , wherein a length of at least one magazine is from about 5 mm to about 250 mm.

23. The end effector of claim 21 , wherein at least one magazine includes a channel for a cutting blade with at least one column of staples on each side of the channel.

24. The end effector of claim 21 , wherein the magazines include an interlock feature.

25. The end effector of claim 24 , wherein the interlock feature includes a projection on one of the magazines and a recess on another of the magazines, the projection being configured to be received in the recess when the magazines are adjacent to each other in the cartridge.

26. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the cartridge includes a plurality of staples arranged in rows and columns, each staple having an open leg length, the staples in each column having about the same open leg length, and each of the anvil and the cartridge has a first edge and a second edge, the anvil being movable relative to the cartridge to define a first edge gap between the faces at the first edges that is less than a second edge gap between the faces at the second edges.

27. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the end effector includes an alignment mechanism configured to facilitate alignment between the anvil and the cartridge as the anvil is moved toward the cartridge.

28. The end effector of claim 27 , wherein the alignment mechanism includes:
a knife that is partially housed in the cartridge and that has a first flange, a second flange, and a web connecting the first and second flanges and including a cutting edge;
a recess in the anvil face that is configured to receive the first flange;
a first slot in the anvil that is open to the anvil face and to the recess and that is configured to slidably receive the web during cutting of the anatomical structure with the cutting edge; and
a second slot in the cartridge that is open to the cartridge face and that is configured to slidably receive the web during cutting of the anatomical structure.

29. The end effector of claim 28 , wherein the anvil has a first guide channel open to the first slot, the cartridge has a guide channel open to the second slot, and the first and second guide channels are parallel.

30. The end effector of claim 29 , wherein the anvil face and the cartridge face are not parallel.

31. The end effector of claim 29 , wherein at least one of the anvil face and the cartridge face has a stepped configur

Assignees

• Standard Bariatrics Inc

Inventors

• Thompson Jonathan
• Thompson Ben
• Nuchols Richard P
• Holscher Russell L

Classifications

• A61B2017/07257

  characterised by its anvil · CPC title

• A61B2017/07235

  containing different staples, e.g. staples of different shapes, sizes or materials · CPC title

• A61B2017/2927

  the angular position of the head being adjustable with respect to the shaft · CPC title

• A61B2017/2939

  Details of linkages or pivot points · CPC title

• A61B2017/07271

  characterised by its cartridge · CPC title