Surgical buttress reload and tip attachment assemblies for surgical stapling apparatus
AssigneeCovidien LP
InventorJohn Beardsley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A surgical stapling apparatus includes a handle assembly, an elongate tubular body, a loading unit including an anvil assembly and a staple cartridge assembly, and a reload assembly. The reload assembly includes a staple cartridge releasably disposed within the staple cartridge assembly of the loading unit, a cartridge buttress releasably secured to the staple cartridge, and an anvil buttress including a proximal portion releasably secured to the staple cartridge and a distal portion releasably coupled to the anvil assembly of the loading unit.
Claims18
A surgical stapling apparatus comprising:
- a handle assembly;
- an elongate tubular body;
- a loading unit including an anvil assembly and a staple cartridge assembly;
- and
- a reload assembly including:
- a staple cartridge releasably disposed within the staple cartridge assembly of the loading unit;
- an anvil adapter including a body having a button extending therefrom that is engaged with an opening extending through a distal portion of the anvil assembly and accessible through an outermost surface of the anvil assembly to releasably attach the anvil adapter to the anvil assembly;
- a cartridge buttress releasably secured to the staple cartridge;
- and
- an anvil buttress including a proximal portion releasably secured to the staple cartridge and a distal portion releasably secured to only the body of the anvil adapter such that the distal portion of the anvil buttress is retained on the anvil assembly when the anvil adapter is engaged with the anvil assembly.
A reload assembly for a loading unit of a surgical stapling apparatus, the reload assembly comprising:
- a staple cartridge configured for positioning in a staple cartridge assembly of the loading unit;
- an anvil adapter including a body having a button extending therefrom configured for engaging an opening defined in a distal portion of an anvil assembly of the loading unit and extending through an outermost surface of the anvil assembly to releasably attach the anvil adapter to the loading unit;
- a cartridge buttress releasably secured to the staple cartridge;
- and
- an anvil buttress including a proximal portion releasably secured to the staple cartridge and a distal portion releasably secured to only the body of the anvil adapter such that the distal portion of the anvil buttress is retained on the anvil assembly when the anvil adapter is engaged with the anvil assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.