Surgical stapler

#1. Technical Field

#This application relates to surgical staplers, and more particularly, to an apparatus for sequentially applying a plurality of surgical fasteners to body tissue.

#2. Background of Related Art

#Various embodiments of the surgical stapling apparatus of the subject application will be described hereinbelow with reference to the drawings wherein:

#FIG. 1A is a perspective view of a surgical stapling apparatus constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment with the clamping handle thereof disposed in an upright open position;

#FIG. 1B is a perspective view of the surgical stapling apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1A with the clamping handle disposed in a closed position;

#In the drawings and in the description which follows, the term “proximal”, as is traditional, will refer to the, end of the apparatus which is closer to the operator, while the term “distal” will refer to the end of the apparatus which is further from the operator.

#Referring now to the drawings wherein like reference numerals identify similar structural elements, there is illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B a surgical stapling device constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment and designated generally by reference numeral 10 which includes a cartridge half section 11A and an anvil half section 11B. As will become readily apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art, surgical stapler 10 is constructed in such a manner so as to substantially reduce the costs associated with its fabrication and assembly as compared to prior art linear staplers.

#Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, surgical stapler 10 includes a body portion 12 defining a handle for grasping and supporting the device. A retaining channel 14 is mounted in the interior cavity 15 of body portion 12 adjacent the distal end thereof. Retaining channel 14 is dimensioned and configured to support a disposable loading unit 20, as illustrated in FIG. 4C.