Gallbladder stone extracting forceps for laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Claim 1

Gallbladder stone forceps comprising: a pair of upper arms, each upper arm including a tip and pivot means located opposite the tip for pivotally attaching one upper arm to the other upper arm, each upper arm having a minimum cross-sectional area situated between the tip and the pivot means, wherein the tip includes a concave inner face, a teardrop-shaped rim bounding the inner face, and an outer face opposite the inner face, and further wherein the inner face includes a distal narrow region at which the rim defines a generally rounded shape, a proximal narrow region at which the rim defines a generally "V"-shaped angle, and a central wide region resting between the distal narrow region and the proximal narrow region, the inner face having maximum width at the central wide region, the distal narrow region being located further from the pivot means than the proximal narrow region, the distal narrow region having a maximum width corresponding to the maximum width of the central wide region and a maximum length greater than one-half of the maximum width of the central wide region, and further wherein a maximum inward spacing between each inner face and its respective rim is no greater than approximately the minimum cross-sectional area of its respective under arm, and further wherein one upper arm engages the other upper arm at the pivot means so that the respective tips of each upper arm are pivotable about the pivot means in opposing relation so that the rims of the respective tips are movable into contact.