U.S. Patent 7918230 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2011-04-05 and describes a “Surgical device having a rotatable jaw portion.” 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 device is provided that includes a jaw portion, having a first jaw in opposed correspondence with a second jaw, the second jaw including a surgical member. The surgical device may include a shaft portion coupled to a proximal end of the jaw portion and at least one motor configured to rotate the jaw portion relative to the shaft portion, to move the jaw portion relative to the shaft portion, move the first jaw relative to the second jaw and move the surgical member within the second jaw. The surgical member may be prevented from moving within the second jaw unless the first jaw is in a closed position relative to the second jaw. Advantageously, the surgical member may include one or both a cutting element or a stapling element, disposed within one of the jaws. Link: U.S. Patent 7918230

This patent was originally filed on 2008-09-22 which gives it a processing time of 925 days, compared to an average processing time of 1606 in the field. Tyco Healthcare Group LP has 1168 total patents. The first named inventor is Donald T. Malinouskas of Monroe, CT. The primary examiner was Brian D Nash.

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