U.S. Patent 8668129 was awarded to Covidien LP on 2014-03-11 and describes a “Surgical apparatus including surgical buttress.” This patent has been cited 276 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 buttress includes a body portion and a band disposed on each of the distal and proximal ends thereof. The surgical buttress is configured to attach to an end effector of a surgical stapling apparatus. The body portion, having perforations disposed thereon, overlies the working surface of one of the first or second jaws of the end effector. A resilient portion extends transversely beyond the side edges of the first or second jaws. Each band remains attached to the end effector following the firing thereof. The proximal band is removably attachable to a hook feature disposed on one of the first or second jaws of the end effector. The surgical buttress can be made from suitable degradable or non-degradable materials. One embodiment contemplates a detachable and disposable single use loading unit. A method of attaching the surgical buttress to a surgical apparatus is also envisioned. Link: U.S. Patent 8668129

This patent was originally filed on 2011-06-02 which gives it a processing time of 1013 days, compared to an average processing time of 837 in the field. Covidien LP has 3582 total patents. The first named inventor is Lee Ann Olson of Nether Providence Township, PA. The primary examiner was Brian D Nash.

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