Ethicon, Gmbh

Randy J Embertson

Fernando A De Toledo

Robert C Allman

M Joshua Tolkoff

Ronald D Adams

A tissue manipulator is provided which is insertable through an endoscopic tube to enable a surgeon to manipulate tissue inside a body cavity. The endoscopic tissue manipulator includes an expandable tissue manipulating frame adapted to expand transversely through a longitudinal slot in a support tube to provide a spatula-shaped platform which can be manipulated by rotation of the support tube about its longitudinal axis to engage and displace large body organs away from a desired surgical site in a body cavity. The frame consists of a plurality of flexible frame members or wires adapted to flex laterally outward through the longitudinal slot in the support tube into a bow-shaped configuration overlapping the other frame members or wires of the spatula-shaped platform. The instrument can be provided with a single tissue manipulating frame or a pair of frames which are expandable through separate longitudinal slots in the support tube to provide a pair of spatula-shaped platforms to engage the tissue. The pair of frames of the dual frame embodiment may be actuated together or independently.

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Cincinnati, OH, United States of America

Randy J Embertson