The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 25, 2010
Filed:
Sep. 18, 2006
Christopher A. Julian, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Daniel T. Wallace, Redwood City, CA (US);
Frederick H. Moll, Woodside, CA (US);
Dean F. Hoornaert, Mountain View, CA (US);
David J. Rosa, San Jose, CA (US);
John G. Freund, Redwood City, CA (US);
John W. Hill, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Christopher A. Julian, Los Gatos, CA (US);
Daniel T. Wallace, Redwood City, CA (US);
Frederick H. Moll, Woodside, CA (US);
Dean F. Hoornaert, Mountain View, CA (US);
David J. Rosa, San Jose, CA (US);
John G. Freund, Redwood City, CA (US);
John W. Hill, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
Surgical accessories are presented in vivo and used by surgical tools in the surgical site to perform additional tasks without the need to remove the tools from the surgical site for tool change or instrument loading. Examples of in vivo accessories include fastening accessories such as surgical clips for use with a clip applier, single working member accessories such as a blade which can be grasped and manipulated by a grasping tool for cutting, sheath accessories that fit over working members of a tool, flow tubes for providing suction or introducing a fluid into the surgical site, and a retraction member resiliently biased to retract a tissue to expose an area in the surgical site for treatment. The accessories can be introduced into the surgical site by a dedicated accessory introducer, or can be supported on the body of a surgical tool inserted into the surgical site and be manipulated using another surgical tool in the surgical site. The accessory introducer can be resiliently biased to bias the accessories toward a predetermined position in the surgical site.