Veress needle with illuminated guidance and suturing capability

A device for use in laparoscopic surgery adapted to form an incision in a body cavity, insufflate the cavity with gas through the incision, and draw sutures through the incision to close off the incision, comprising:

• an elongated cannula having a handle at a proximal end and a sharpened trocar at the distal end;
• a tubular Veress needle having a proximal end and a distal end supported within the cannula;
• a pair of suture-engaging jaws disposed at the distal end of the Veress needle;
• a gas valve for introduction of gas at the proximal end of the Veress needle for passage through an incision formed by the trocar into a body cavity;
• a control wire connecting the suture-engaging jaws to the proximal end of the cannula;
• and
• a pushbutton actuated extension-retraction mechanism connected to the control wire at the proximal end of the cannula and adapted to move the control wire between extended and retracted positions and to retain it in a given position until the pushbutton is again actuated, to thus open and close the jaws and to retain the jaws in such opened or closed position until the next actuation of the pushbutton, said extension-retraction mechanism consisting of a rotatably supported ratchet member caused to move between rotating positions in which the control wire is either extended or retracted between successive depressions of the pushbutton.