U.S. Patent 7846149 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2010-12-07 and describes a “Instrument introducer.” This patent has been cited 345 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:

Instrument introducers are disclosed which facilitate the insertion of a surgical instrument into a cavity or a body of a patient. In one embodiment, the instrument introducer includes a hollow elongate cylindrical body including a distal end portion terminating in a distal edge and a proximal end portion, the cylindrical body defining a central longitudinal axis, and an elastomeric cap secured to the distal end portion of the cylindrical body, the cap including a distal end wall having an outer terminal edge and an annular side wall depending from the outer terminal edge thereof. The distal end wall includes an aperture formed therein, wherein a center of the aperture is coaxially aligned with the central longitudinal axis. Link: U.S. Patent 7846149

This patent was originally filed on 2003-04-10 which gives it a processing time of 2798 days, compared to an average processing time of 1760 in the field. Tyco Healthcare Group LP has 1168 total patents. The first named inventor is Bruce K. Jankowski of Meriden, CT. The primary examiner was John P Leubecker.

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