Ethicon Endo-surgery, Inc.

Ethicon, Gmbh

Cilag International Gmbh

Eithicon LLC

Sean P Conlon

Randal T Byrum

William Bruce Weisenburgh, Ii

Richard William Timm

Joshua R Uth

Foster B Stulen

Galen C Robertson

Kevin L Houser

John A Hibner

Jeffrey L Aldridge

Rudolph Henry Nobis

Michael S Cropper

Jeffrey David Messerly

Jacob Spencer Gee

Frederick E Shelton, IV

Mark S Ortiz

Christopher J Hess

Matthew C Miller

John B Schulte

Tylor C Muhlenkamp

Daniel F Dlugos, Jr

Gregory W Johnson

Timothy G Dietz

John V Hunt

Jeffrey S Swayze

Michael J Stokes

Daniel J Mumaw

Craig N Faller

William D Dannaher

Christopher W Widenhouse

Prasanna Malaviya

Patrick A Weizman

Amy L Marcotte

Jason L Harris

Jerome R Morgan

Charles J Scheib

Mark S Zeiner

Eitan T Wiener

Barry C Worrell

Anil K Nalagatla

Dale R Schulze

James T Spivey

William David Kelly

Michael R Lamping

Gregory D Bishop

Aron O Zingman

David C Yates

Chester O Baxter, Iii

Chad Paul Boudreaux

Mark D Overmyer

Daniel W Price

Thomas W Huitema

Geoffrey S Strobl

James Walden Voegele

Bret William Smith

Omar J Vakharia

Benjamin D Dickerson

Gary W Knight

Ashvani K Madan

Lauren S Weaner

Andrew M Zwolinski

Alec Ginggen

Richard C Smith

Craig T Davis

Gary Lee Long

Shailendra Kumar Parihar

James R Giordano

Kyle P Moore

Richard P Nuchols

Wells D Haberstich

William D Fox

Donna L Korvick

Kristen G Denzinger

David James Cagle

Mark H Ransick

James J Bedi

Matthew S Corbin

Rocco Crivelli

Andrew W Carroll

Shan Wan

Gregory J Bakos

Taylor W Aronhalt

Shane R Adams

Richard L Leimbach

Rao S Bezwada

Gregory A Trees

Ryan M Asher

Michel Bruehwiler

Geoffrey C Hueil

Adam R Dunki-Jacobs

Cole Constantineau

Edward A Rhad

Bennie Thompson

Stephen M Leuck

Aaron C Voegele

David N Plescia

Scott A Woodruff

Christopher J Schall

Patrick J Minnelli

Ronald John Kolata

A surgical apparatus comprises a body, an ultrasonic transducer, a shaft, an acoustic waveguide, an articulation section, an end effector, and an articulation drive assembly. The ultrasonic transducer is operable to convert electrical power into ultrasonic vibrations. The shaft couples the end effector and the body together. The acoustic waveguide is coupled with the transducer. The articulation section includes a collar that is located distal to a nodal portion of the waveguide and is operable to deflect the end effector away from the longitudinal axis. The end effector comprises an ultrasonic blade in acoustic communication with the ultrasonic transducer. The articulation drive assembly is operable to drive articulation of the articulation section. The articulation drive assembly comprises at least one translating articulation driver coupled with the collar. The ultrasonic blade is operable to deliver ultrasonic vibrations to tissue even when the articulation section is in an articulated state.

Articulation features for ultrasonic surgical instrument

An apparatus includes a shaft assembly, an ultrasonic blade, and a clamp assembly. The shaft assembly includes an acoustic waveguide operable to transmit ultrasonic vibrations to the blade. The clamp assembly includes a clamp arm pivotable toward and away from the blade about a pivot axis, to clamp tissue between the clamp arm and the blade. A rotation feature may provide rotation of the blade relative to the clamp arm about the longitudinal axis of the waveguide. Alternatively, the rotation feature may provide rotation of the clamp arm relative to the blade about the longitudinal axis. The rotation feature may be driven based on pivotal positioning of the clamp arm relative to the blade about the pivot axis. The rotation feature may selectively lock and unlock the angular position of either the blade or the clamp arm about the longitudinal axis at any of a number of predetermined angular positions.

Rotation features for ultrasonic surgical instrument

An apparatus includes an external body, a floor attached to the external body, an applicator pad, and a cover. The external body defines an internal cavity and extends between a bottom and top end. The applicator pad extends from the floor into the internal cavity defined by the external body. The applicator pad has an absorbent material that can absorb an electro-lubricant. The applicator pad is dimensioned to be grasped by a pair of jaws of a surgical instrument. The cover is associated with the top end of the external body and partially defines the internal cavity of the external body. The cover allows the pair of jaws to enter the internal cavity via the cover to grasp the applicator pad.

Container features for surgical instrument lubricant

A staple cartridge assembly comprising a tissue thickness compensator is disclosed. The tissue thickness compensator comprises a first fibrous, woven material and a second fibrous, woven material. The first fibrous, woven material comprises a density which is different than the density of the second fibrous, woven material. The tissue thickness compensator is configured to expand upon contact with a fluid in order to apply a compressive force to tissue captured within staples.

Layer of material for a surgical end effector

A surgical instrument includes a body, a shaft assembly, and an end effector. The shaft assembly extends distally from the body. The end effector is located at a distal end portion of the shaft assembly. The end effector includes an active feature configured to operate on tissue. The body includes a drive feature operable to drive the active feature of the end effector. The body is removably coupled with the shaft assembly in a connected state and separated from the shaft assembly in a disconnected state. The body includes a drive feature configured to drive operation of the active feature of the effector. The drive feature includes at least one of an ultrasonic drive feature or a mechanical drive feature. A proximal end portion of the shaft assembly is configured to be removed from the body to separate the at least one activation feature from the drive feature.

Surgical instrument with separable shaft assembly and body

A surgical instrument includes a body, a shaft assembly, and an end effector. The end effector includes an ultrasonic blade and a clamp arm movably coupled with the shaft assembly. The shaft assembly extends between the body and the end effector and includes an acoustic waveguide, a rotational driver, and a driver wrench. The rotational driver is configured to be received within the rotational drive channel and rotate the shaft assembly relative to the body. The acoustic waveguide includes a notch and the driver wrench includes a key, wherein the first notch of the acoustic waveguide is configured to receive the key.

Blade grounding mechanisms and alternative pin designs

Aspects of the present disclosure are presented for a surgical instrument for cutting and sealing tissue. In some embodiments, the surgical instrument includes a handle assembly, a shaft, and an end effector. The end effector may include: a blade that vibrates at an ultrasonic frequency, a shielded portion enclosing a back edge of the blade, a high-friction surface coupled to the shielded portion and positioned between the shielded portion and the back edge of the blade. A space is defined between the high-friction surface and the back edge of the blade when the end effector is in a cutting configuration. In a sealing configuration, the high-friction surface contacts the back edge of the blade, which generates heat based on ultrasonic vibrations of the blade rubbing against the high-friction surface. The shielded portion can coagulate bleeding tissue based on heat transfer from the high-friction surface to the shielded portion.

Translatable outer tube for sealing using shielded lap chole dissector

An ultrasonic surgical instrument includes a body, an ultrasonic supported by the body, a shaft extending distally from the body and defining a shaft axis, a waveguide extending distally through the shaft, and an end effector arranged at a distal end of the shaft. The end effector includes an ultrasonic blade coupled to a distal end of the waveguide and having a primary blade treatment surface configured to treat tissue, and a clamp arm coupled to the distal end of the shaft. The shaft and the waveguide are selectively rotatable relative to one another about the shaft axis through a predefined range of angular motion between an assembly state and an operational state. In the assembly state, the clamp arm and the primary blade treatment surface are rotationally offset from one another. In the operational state, the clamp arm and the primary blade treatment surface are rotationally aligned.

Ultrasonic surgical instrument with pre-assembled acoustic assembly

A surgical instrument includes a reusable assembly having an inner tube and an ultrasonic blade positioned within the inner tube. The inner tube includes at least one opening to receive a sterilization fluid therethrough for sterilizing the ultrasonic blade within the inner tube. The surgical instrument further includes a sterilization detection system to determine whether the reusable assembly has been sterilized during a sterilization cycle. A seal is selectively couplable with the at least one opening of the inner tube to fluidly seal the at least one opening for inhibiting bodily fluid from entering the at least one opening during a surgical procedure.

Dual sterilization and temperature based sterilization detection

A cannula sleeve for a surgical trocar assembly. The cannula sleeve includes a hollow shaft, at least a portion of which is made of a rigid material, and a seal at the distal end of the hollow shaft, the seal being movable between a first open position and a second closed position. The shaft defines a proximal end, a distal end, a periphery, and a longitudinal axis. The shaft further includes a channel at the periphery substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis, the channel being in communication with the hollow shaft.

Apparatus for introducing a steerable camera assembly into a patient

An apparatus includes a body, a shaft assembly, and an end effector. The shaft assembly includes an outer tube, a proximal inner tube member, a distal inner tube member, and an acoustic waveguide. The end effector includes an ultrasonic blade and a clamp arm. A first portion of the clamp arm is pivotably coupled with a distal end of the outer tube. A second portion of the clamp arm is pivotably coupled with a distal end of the distal inner tube member. The outer tube is configured to removably couple with the body and the distal inner tube member is configured to removably couple with the proximal inner tube member such that the outer tube, the distal inner tube member, and the clamp arm are configured to removably couple with the body and the remainder of the shaft assembly and end effector as a unit.

Ultrasonic surgical instrument with removable shaft assembly portion

A method of forming a component of an ultrasonic surgical instrument includes accessing a file including a digital model representing the component. The component includes a proximal portion and a distal portion. The proximal portion includes a contact portion. The distal portion includes an ultrasonic blade. The contact portion is configured to transmit ultrasonic vibrations to the ultrasonic blade when the component is acoustically coupled to a complementary portion of an acoustic waveguide of the ultrasonic surgical instrument. The file is used to fabricate the component via an additive manufacturing process. Once the component has been fabricated, the distal portion is secured to a distal end of the complementary portion of the acoustic waveguide.

Ultrasonic surgical instrument with ad hoc formed blade

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Loveland, OH, United States of America

Sean P Conlon