Surgical access devices having a cannula sidewall seal with a variable cross-sectional thickness

A surgical access device, comprising:

• a cannula having a sidewall extending radially around a longitudinal axis thereof and an inner lumen extending through the cannula to provide for a working channel of the device;
• and
• at least one seal disposed in a sidewall of the cannula, the at least one seal having a patterned guide surface facing towards the inner lumen of the cannula, the patterned guide surface being configured to direct a surgical instrument through one or more pre-defined resealable openings of the at least one seal,
• wherein the one or more pre-defined resealable openings are configured to minimize tear remnants that result from passing an instrument through the at least one seal and reduce an amount of load needed to be applied to an instrument being inserted through the at least one seal to pass the instrument through the at least one seal.

A surgical method, comprising:

• passing a surgical instrument into a surgical access device disposed proximate to tissue having an opening therein, the surgical device having a seal disposed in a cannula thereof;
• selecting a resealable opening of one or more resealable openings of the seal disposed in the cannula to achieve a desired bite angle at which the surgical instrument is passed into the tissue;
• passing the surgical instrument through the selected resealable opening, the surgical instrument being directed to the selected resealable opening by way of a configuration of the seal disposed in the cannula having a variable cross-sectional thickness that results in a threshold amount of load needed to pass the surgical instrument through the selected resealable opening to be less than an amount of load needed to pass the surgical instrument through portions of the seal in the cannula that surround the selected resealable opening;
• and
• passing the surgical instrument into the tissue proximate to the surgical access device.