U.S. Patent 7641095 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2010-01-05 and describes a “Staple driver for articulating surgical stapler.” This patent has been cited 353 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:

An articulating surgical instrument is provided including a handle, an articulating portion extending distally of the handle and an end effector positioned on a distal end of the articulating portion. A flexible drive band is provided for movement through the articulating portion and end effector. The flexible drive band includes a first portion having a first height and the second portion having a second height greater than the first height. The difference in heights being sufficient to eject staples from a body portion of the end effector into an anvil member of the end effector. An actuation mechanism is provided for drawing the flexible drive band through the articulating surgical instrument. Link: U.S. Patent 7641095

This patent was originally filed on 2008-10-08 which gives it a processing time of 454 days, compared to an average processing time of 1097 in the field. Tyco Healthcare Group LP has 1168 total patents. The first named inventor is Frank J. Viola of Sandy, UT. The primary examiner was Scott A. Smith.

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