U.S. Patent 7918377 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2011-04-05 and describes a “Surgical stapling instrument with apparatus for providing anvil position feedback.” This patent has been cited 388 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:

Circular stapling instruments for cutting and applying one or more surgical staples to tissue are disclosed. The instruments include various forms of feedback systems designed to provide at least one mode of feedback to the surgeon when the anvil has been attached to the device and/or when the anvil has been attached to the device and oriented in a firing position. Various types of feedback indicators are disclosed such as illumination devices, sound generating devices and vibration generation devices. In various embodiments, the feedback indicator comprises at least one illumination device mounted on the anvil which indicates that the anvil has been properly attached to the instrument and which can also serve to illuminate the surgical site. Link: U.S. Patent 7918377

This patent was originally filed on 2008-10-16 which gives it a processing time of 901 days, compared to an average processing time of 1097 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Bennie Thompson of San Carlos, CA. The primary examiner was Scott A. Smith.

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