U.S. Patent 8413871 was awarded to Covidien LP on 2013-04-09 and describes a “Surgical stapling apparatus.” This patent has been cited 316 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 stapling apparatus is provided including a cartridge assembly defining a tissue contacting surface; an anvil assembly defining a tissue contacting surface; and a surgical buttress releasably secured to at least one of the tissue contacting surface of the cartridge assembly and the tissue contacting surface of the anvil assembly by at least one anchor. A loading unit is provided including a surgical buttress releasably secured to an anvil assembly and/or a staple cartridge secured thereto by at least one anchor, and a drive assembly including a knife blade, wherein movement of the drive assembly from a proximal position to a distal position results in the knife blade cutting the at least one anchor and freeing each surgical buttress from the anvil assembly and/or cartridge assembly. Link: U.S. Patent 8413871

This patent was originally filed on 2008-03-05 which gives it a processing time of 1861 days, compared to an average processing time of 1097 in the field. Covidien LP has 3582 total patents. The first named inventor is Ernie Aranyi of Easton, PA. The primary examiner was Brian D Nash.

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