U.S. Patent 8292151 was awarded to Tyco Healthcare Group LP on 2012-10-23 and describes a “Tool assembly for surgical stapling device.” This patent has been cited 251 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:

The present disclosure describes a surgical device with a body portion defining a longitudinal axis, a tool assembly including an anvil, a cartridge assembly housing a plurality of staples, a dynamic clamping member movable relative to the tool assembly to eject the staples, and an articulation and firing actuator extending at least partially through the body portion and the tool assembly. The tool assembly is pivotally attached to the body portion for movement from a position aligned with the longitudinal axis to a position oriented at an angle thereto. The articulation and firing actuator extends at least partially through the body portion and the tool assembly, is operably associated with the dynamic clamping member and the tool assembly, and is movable in relation thereto to selectively pivot the tool assembly relative to the body portion and move the dynamic clamping member relative to the tool assembly to eject the staples. Link: U.S. Patent 8292151

This patent was originally filed on 2011-12-22 which gives it a processing time of 306 days, compared to an average processing time of 837 in the field. Tyco Healthcare Group LP has 1168 total patents. The first named inventor is Frank J. Viola of Sandy, UT. The assistant examiner was Michelle Lopez.

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