United States Surgical Corporation

Alex Ianniruberto

Michael Ciccolella

Roy D Gravener

Thomas D Guy

A valve assembly adapted for introduction of surgical instruments into a patient's body includes a valve body formed of a flexibly resilient material which defines an aperture for reception of the instrument. The aperture is configured and dimensioned such that insertion of the instrument into the aperture will cause the resilient material of the valve body to resiliently engage the outer surface of the instrument in a substantially gas tight manner. The valve assembly includes a biasing member for closing the valve body to form a gas tight seal prior to inserting the instrument therethrough.

Valve assembly for introducing instruments into body cavities

A cannula assembly for use in conjunction with endoscopic surgical techniques includes a cannula, a housing mounted on one end of the cannula, and a variable interior dimension cannula valve assembly in the housing. The variable interior dimension cannula valve assembly includes a flexible tubular member having a distal portion affixed to the housing, an intermediate portion capable of changing interior dimension and a proximate portion including a rigid rotating means and a locking means. The interior dimension of the cannula valve assembly may be set to a desired size to fit a surgical instrument inserted into the cannula passage while maintaining a substantially air-tight seal.

Variable interior dimension cannula assembly

An apparatus for maintaining a positional relationship between a trocar cannula and body tissue into which the cannula is inserted includes a tissue engaging member having a conical outer surface with a thread helically disposed thereon. A guide tube is insertable into a bore in the tissue engaging member, the guide tube having a camming surface. A collet with flexible projections is engageable with the guide tube. When the collet is tightened onto the guide tube the flexible projections bend inward to frictionally engage and hold a trocar cannula inserted through the axial bore of the apparatus.

Growing community of inventors

Waterbury, CT, United States of America

Alex Ianniruberto