U.S. Patent 7669747 was awarded to Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. on 2010-03-02 and describes a “Washer for use with a surgical stapling instrument.” This patent has been cited 534 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 stapler including a “breakaway” washer that is inserted into an anvil. The washer can include a circular inner portion and a circular outer portion. The outer portion may include a number of staple guide sections that define openings through which staple ends of surgical staples are driven when the surgical stapler is fired and are thereafter bent, or turned, by the anvil. The staple ends may then contact and be retained by the staple guide sections so that the staple ends do not re-penetrate or otherwise re-puncture stapled tissue. The washer can be dissolvable or bioabsorbable. Link: U.S. Patent 7669747

This patent was originally filed on 2007-06-29 which gives it a processing time of 977 days, compared to an average processing time of 1226 in the field. Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. has 2128 total patents. The first named inventor is Christopher J. Hess of Cincinnati, OH. The assistant examiner was Michelle Lopez.

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