U.S. Patent 8397971 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2013-03-19 and describes a “Sterilizable surgical instrument.” This patent has been cited 299 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 instrument including a first portion and a second portion, wherein the second portion can be sterilized separately from the first portion. The first portion can comprise an anvil, a staple cartridge channel and/or staple cartridge, and a movable cutting member. The second portion can comprise electronic components configured to control the surgical instrument and/or record data collected during the use of the surgical instrument. The first portion can be sterilized using a gamma radiation sterilization process while the second portion can be sterilized using a different sterilization process, such as steam, ethylene oxide, ozone, and/or hydrogen peroxide sterilization processes, for example. As a result, the first and second portions can be sterilized separately and delivered in two separate containers. The second portion can be stored within a sealed bag and can include an electrical terminal which can penetrate the bag and communicate with the first portion. Link: U.S. Patent 8397971

This patent was originally filed on 2009-02-05 which gives it a processing time of 1503 days, compared to an average processing time of 1080 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is David C. Yates of Westchester, IL. The primary examiner was Brian D Nash.

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