Disposable staple cartridge having an anvil with tissue locator

Abstract

A disposable staple cartridge for a surgical cutting and fastening instrument. Various embodiments include a disposable anvil that is supported relative to the cartridge body and movable between open and closed positions. At least one tissue stop is provided on the disposable anvil for orienting the tissue to be cut and stapled relative to the staples supported within the cartridge body. Other embodiments relate to end effectors for surgical cutting and fastening instruments that can be used in connection with a plurality of staple cartridge bodies that each have a common length but which maydifferent lengths of staple lines.

Description

[0001] Cross-references to related applications [0002] This application is related to the following U.S. patent applications, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference: [0003] The name of the invention is "MOTOR-DRIVEN SURGICAL CUTTING ANDFASTENING INSTRUMENT WITH USER FEEDBACK SYSTEM", and the inventors are Frederick E. Shelton, IV, John Ouwerkerk and Jerome R. Morgan's application (K&LNG 050519 / END5687USNP); [0004] The name of the invention is "MOTOR-DRIVEN SURGICAL CUTTING ANDFASTENING INSTRUMENT WITH LOADING FORCE FEEDBACK", and the inventors are Frederick E. Shelton, IV, John N. Ouwerkerk, Jerome R. Morgan, and Jeffrey S. Swayze (K&LNG 050516 / END5692USNP); [0005] The title of the invention is "MOTOR-DRIVEN SURGICAL CUTTING ANDFASTENING INSTRUMENT WITH TACTILE POSITION FEEDBACK", and the inventors are Frederick E. Shelton, IV, John N. Ouwerkerk, Jerome R. Morgan, and Jeffrey S. Swayze (K&LNG 050515 / END5693USNP); [0006] The name of the inve...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0022] Although this method improves staple formation and reduces the force required to cut tissue and deploy staples, it also has a number of disadvantages

First, the surgeon needs to dispose of the entire anvil, channel, and cartridge after each firing, which increases manufacturing costs

Second, due to the fact that the anvil is actually clamped to the tissue relative to the fragile end effector, the instrument often does not clamp the target tissue securely

A third problem is that relative to the fragile end effectors, they are only reliable for firing moderately thick tissue, but are powerless for very thick tissue

Due to the increased anvil drag load on the knife, this method generally must generate higher deployment forces

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