U.S. Patent 8157145 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2012-04-17 and describes a “Pneumatically powered surgical cutting and fastening instrument with electrical feedback.” This patent has been cited 450 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 status module for use with a pneumatically powered surgical instrument includes at least one sensor and a housing structured and arranged to releasably connect to the pneumatically powered surgical instrument. At least one contact is connected to the pneumatically powered surgical instrument. Each individual contact is structured and arranged to be in electrical communication with a different sensor when the housing is connected to the pneumatically powered surgical instrument. The at least one sensor is fluidically coupled to the pneumatically powered surgical instrument. A circuit is in electrical communication with the least one contact and at least one of a plurality of indicators. Link: U.S. Patent 8157145

This patent was originally filed on 2007-05-31 which gives it a processing time of 1783 days, compared to an average processing time of 1226 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Frederick E. Shelton, IV of Hillsboro, OR. The primary examiner was Lindsay Low.

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