U.S. Patent 7913891 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2011-03-29 and describes a “Disposable loading unit with user feedback features and surgical instrument for use therewith.” This patent has been cited 400 times by other U.S. patents which places it in the top 500 cited patents since 2010 according to our law firm research, and makes it of the most innovative medical technology patents in the field of instruments. The abstract states:

A disposable loading unit for operable attachment to a surgical stapling apparatus. The disposable loading unit may have a spent cartridge indication system for providing an indication of whether the loading unit has been previously fired. Other embodiments are disclosed that employ a blade monitoring system for providing feedback to the user concerning the amount of strain being experienced by the blade during cutting and stapling. Link: U.S. Patent 7913891

This patent was originally filed on 2008-02-14 which gives it a processing time of 1139 days, compared to an average processing time of 1097 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Mark S. Ortiz of Milford Charter Twp, MI. The primary examiner was Scott A. Smith.

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