U.S. Patent 7988028 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2011-08-02 and describes a “Surgical instrument having an asymmetric dynamic clamping member.” This patent has been cited 272 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 is disclosed. The surgical instrument includes a handle assembly, a drive assembly, an endoscopic portion, a pair of jaw members, a dynamic clamping member, and a tissue stop. The drive assembly is disposed in mechanical cooperation with a movable handle of the handle assembly. The endoscopic portion defines a first longitudinal axis. The jaw members are each longitudinally curved with respect to the longitudinal axis. The dynamic clamping member is disposed in mechanical cooperation with a distal portion of the drive assembly and includes an upper beam, a lower beam, and a vertical beam having a cutting edge on a distal portion thereof. At least a portion of the dynamic clamping member is longitudinally curved with respect to the longitudinal axis. The tissue stop is disposed adjacent a distal portion of the first jaw member and configured to impede tissue from distally escaping the jaw members. Link: U.S. Patent 7988028

This patent was originally filed on 2009-09-03 which gives it a processing time of 698 days, compared to an average processing time of 1080 in the field. Tyco Healthcare Group LP has 1168 total patents. The first named inventor is Michael F. Robbins of New Haven, CT. The primary examiner was Brian D Nash.

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