U.S. Patent 7967178 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2011-06-28 and describes a “Grasping jaw mechanism.” This patent has been cited 245 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 device is disclosed which includes a handle assembly, an elongated member and a disposable loading unit. The handle assembly includes a mode selection mechanism configured to alternate the surgical device between a first grasping mode of operation and a second clamping mode of operation. The handle assembly includes a rotation control member and an articulation lever. The rotation control member is configured to facilitate rotation of the elongated member with respect to the handle assembly. The articulation lever is configured to facilitate articulation of the tool assembly about an axis substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of elongated member. In one embodiment, the tool assembly includes a cartridge assembly having a plurality of staples and an anvil assembly configured to clamp and staple tissue in the second clamping mode of operation of the device. Link: U.S. Patent 7967178

This patent was originally filed on 2009-01-14 which gives it a processing time of 895 days, compared to an average processing time of 1080 in the field. Tyco Healthcare Group LP has 1168 total patents. The first named inventor is Paul A. Scirica of Huntington, NY. The primary examiner was Rinaldi I. Rada.

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