Surgical sealing apparatus

Abstract

A sealing apparatus is disclosed that includes a housing that is mountable to an elongate shaft which includes an axial lumen. A sealing member defines a cavity and has at least a portion thereof disposed within the housing. The cavity is spherically moveable relative to the elongate shaft. The housing may define a passageway communicating with the cavity and the axial lumen. An inner surface of the housing can define at least a portion of a pathway configured for movement of the sealing member. The sealing member may include an end portion defining a moveable limit within the pathway. The sealing member may be fixedly mounted to a portion of the housing such that the cavity and the portion of the housing are correspondingly spherically moveable relative the elongate shaft. A sealing element having at least a portion disposed within the housing may moveably support the sealing member. The sealing element may cooperate with an inner surface of the housing to define at least a portion of the pathway. The sealing element may include a resilient portion configured to bias the sealing member relative to a longitudinal axis of the elongate shaft. The sealing member can be biased to a centered position relative to the longitudinal axis and in substantially coaxial alignment therewith. In an alternate embodiment, the sealing member is mounted to the housing and the housing may be configured for substantially spherical movement relative to the elongate shaft and/or substantially lateral movement relative to the longitudinal axis of the elongate shaft.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.