U.S. Patent 8136713 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2012-03-20 and describes a “Surgical stapling instrument having transducer effecting vibrations.” This patent has been cited 248 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:

An end effector for a surgical instrument includes a cartridge assembly housing a plurality of fasteners, an anvil assembly operatively connected to the cartridge assembly, and a transducer operably connected to at least one of the cartridge assembly and the anvil assembly. The anvil assembly and the cartridge assembly are movable between open and closed positions. The transducer is adapted to effect vibrations along at least one of the anvil assembly and the cartridge assembly. The vibrations reduce the friction on the end effector, thereby reducing the force necessary to fire the end effector. Link: U.S. Patent 8136713

This patent was originally filed on 2009-03-24 which gives it a processing time of 1092 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 Eric J. Taylor of East Hampton, NY. The primary examiner was Brian D Nash.

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