Endoscopic surgical instrument

Abstract

Abstract This invention is a surgical instrument (5) for gripping tissue in an endoscopic work space. The instrument has an elongate introducer sleeve (10) extending along a primary axis (15). An articulating jaw assembly (20) is coupled to the distal end of the introducer sleeve with a ball and socket-type joint (35, 36) that provides jaws (22a, 22b) that open and close around a secondary axis (45). The instrument further has a 'flex jaw' feature (150a, 150b) whereby the jaw working faces (149a, 149b) are somewhat free to rotate relative to the jaw arms (142a, 142b). In another version, an elongate introducer sleeve (410) carries a distal jaw structure incorporating cooperating rolling tracks (445a, 445b) with tissue gripping serration (449) for applying continuous traction on the tissue.

Inventors

• 👤 Maciej J. Kieturakis

Bibliographic Details