U.S. Patent 8028883 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2011-10-04 and describes a “Methods of using shape memory alloys for buttress attachment.” This patent has been cited 438 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 stapling device includes a tissue contacting surface and a buttress attachment feature. The buttress attachment feature permits selectively securing a surgical buttress to the tissue contacting surface, which may be disposed on a cartridge assembly or an anvil plate of the surgical stapling device. The buttress attachment feature may include a shape memory alloy, such as a nickel titanium alloy, that is responsive to a temperature change to allow the buttress attachment feature to move between a first position where a free end of the buttress attachment feature is substantially spaced from the tissue contacting surface, and second position where the surgical attachment feature is approximated with respect to the tissue contacting surface. Link: U.S. Patent 8028883

This patent was originally filed on 2007-10-25 which gives it a processing time of 1440 days, compared to an average processing time of 1226 in the field. Tyco Healthcare Group LP has 1168 total patents. The first named inventor is Megan L. Stopek of Yalesville, CT. The primary examiner was Brian D Nash.

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