Multi-fire stapling systems
AssigneeBoston Scientific Scimed, Inc.
InventorsDaniel J. Balbierz, Pablo R. Hambly, Jason S. Stewart, David Cole
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A staple housing includes an array of staples each in a staple delivery position or “ready position” ready to be fired into target tissue. A staple driver is advanceable to drive the ready position staples from the staple head into the tissue using staple pushers. During use, the staples in the ready positions are simultaneously fired into the target tissue using the staple pushers, forming an array of staples in the target tissue. After the array has been fired, one or more feed mechanisms within the staple housing advance a second group of staples from one or more staple storage locations into the ready positions in preparation for firing of the second group of staples.
Claims21
1-30. (canceled)
A stapler, comprising:
- a staple member including a plurality of staples;
- an anvil spaced from the staple member along an axis, the staple member and the anvil configured to relatively move towards and away from each other along the axis, wherein the plurality of staples are oriented radially with respect to the axis;
- and
- a staple driver configured to drive a first set of staples of the plurality of staples from the staple member towards the anvil, wherein the first set of staples (a) includes multiple staples equally spaced from the axis, and (b) includes less staples than the plurality of staples.
A stapler, comprising:
- an elongate shaft having a distal end, and
- a stapler head positioned at the distal end of the elongate shaft, the stapler head including:
- an anvil;
- a staple member spaced from the anvil along an axis, the staple member including a plurality of staples arranged symmetrically about the axis and oriented radially with respect to the axis;
- and
- a staple driver configured to simultaneously drive each staple of a first set of staples of the plurality of staples from the staple member towards the anvil, wherein the first set of staples (a) are equally spaced from the axis, and (b) includes less staples than the plurality of staples.
A stapler, comprising:
- an anvil;
- a staple member spaced from the anvil along an axis, the staple member including a plurality of staples oriented radially with respect to the axis, the plurality of staples including at least a first set of staples and a second set of staples;
- and
- a staple driver configured to (i) drive the first set of staples from the staple member towards the anvil at a first time, and (ii) drive the second set of staples from the staple member towards the anvil at a second time, wherein each of the first set of staples and the second set of staples includes two or more staples symmetrically arranged about the axis, and the first set of staples and the second set of staples include an equal number of staples.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.