U.S. Patent 7753904 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2010-07-13 and describes a “Endoscopic surgical instrument with a handle that can articulate with respect to the shaft.” This patent has been cited 430 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 surgical instrument particular suited to endoscopic use is disclosed. Various embodiments include an end effector that is sized to be inserted through a trocar. An elongated shaft assembly is coupled to the end effector and a control handle. The elongated shaft assembly has a distal portion that is adjacent to said the effector for insertion into the trocar. The elongated shaft assembly further has a proximal portion that is remote from the distal portion such that the proximal portion protrudes from the trocar when the end effector and distal portion are inserted therethrough. The control handle is articulatably coupled to the proximal portion of said elongated shaft assembly to enable the surgeon to move the handle portion to a more ergonomically comfortable position while carrying out the endoscopic procedure. Various articulation joint embodiments and locking arrangements are disclosed. Link: U.S. Patent 7753904

This patent was originally filed on 2006-01-31 which gives it a processing time of 1624 days, compared to an average processing time of 1933 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 assistant examiner was Aaron Roane.

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