U.S. Patent 7951071 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2011-05-31 and describes a “Moisture-detecting shaft for use with an electro-mechanical surgical device.” This patent has been cited 255 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 flexible shaft includes a flexible, elongated outer sheath, at least one drive shaft disposed within the outer sheath and a moisture sensor disposed within the outer sheath configured to detect moisture within the outer sheath. Another flexible shaft includes a flexible, elongated outer sheath, at least one flexible drive shaft disposed within the outer sheath and a coupling connected to a distal end of the outer sheath configured to couple to a surgical attachment. Link: U.S. Patent 7951071

This patent was originally filed on 2002-03-15 which gives it a processing time of 3364 days, compared to an average processing time of 1258 in the field. Tyco Healthcare Group LP has 1168 total patents. The first named inventor is John E. Burbank, III of Ridgefield, WA. The primary examiner was Philip R Smith.

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