Disposable loading unit for surgical stapler

Abstract

A disposable loading unit is disclosed for use in conjunction with a surgical stapling apparatus configured to sequentially apply a plurality of surgical fasteners to body tissue. The apparatus includes an actuation assembly for effectuating a fastener applying operation, and a housing for receiving and releasably supporting the disposable loading unit. The disposable loading unit includes a staple cartridge body having a longitudinal pathway extending therethrough and a plurality of spaced apart retention slots defined therein each supporting a respective surgical fastener, a plurality of fastener ejection members disposed adjacent the plurality of spaced apart retention slots and communicating with the longitudinal pathway, and an actuator supported within the staple cartridge body and configured to engage the actuation assembly of the apparatus and translate through the longitudinal pathway to contact the fastener ejection members and thereby sequentially eject the surgical fasteners from their respective retention slots. U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 4,273,111 June 1981 Tsukaya. 4,283,165 August 1981 Vertut. 4,290,421 September 1981 Siegmund. 4,347,837 September 1982 Hosono. 4,351,323 September 1982 Ouchi et al.. 4,429,695 February 1984 Green. 4,432,349 February 1984 Oshiro. 4,473,077 September 1984 Noiles et al.. 4,483,326 November 1984 Yamaka et al.. 4,494,417 January 1985 Larson et al.. 4,503,842 March 1985 Takayama. 4,557,254 December 1985 Yamaguchi. 4,593,679 June 1986 Collins. 4,606,343 August 1986 Conta et al.. 4,608,981 September 1986 Rothfuss et al.. 4,688,555 August 1987 Wardle. 4,700,693 October 1987 Lia et al.. 4,718,407 January 1988 Chikama. 4,721,099 January 1988 Chikama. 4,726,355 February 1988 Okada. 4,753,223 June 1988 Bremer. 4,754,909 July 1988 Barker et al.. 4,762,118 August 1988 Lia et al.. 4,762,119 August 1988 Allred, III et al.. 4,770,185 September 1988 Silverstein et al.. 4,773,395 September 1988 Suzuki et al.. 4,779,612 October 1988 Kishi. 4,787,369 November 1988 Allred, III et al.. 4,790,294 December 1988 Allred, III et al.. 4,794,912 January 1989 Lia. 4,796,607 January 1989 Allred, III et al.. 4,805,596 February 1989 Hatori. 4,815,911 March 1989 Bengtson et al.. 4,834,069 May 1989 Umeda. 4,873,965 October 1989 Danieli. 4,905,666 March 1990 Fukuda. 4,911,148 March 1990 Sosonowski et al.. 4,919,112 April 1990 Siegmund. 4,947,827 August 1990 Opie et al.. 4,955,959 September 1990 Thompkins et al.. 4,977,790 December 1990 Nishi et al.. 4,996,974 March 1991 Ciarlei. 5,002,041 March 1991 Chikama. 5,005,558 April 1991 Aomori. 5,007,406 April 1991 Takahasi et al.. 5,014,515 May 1991 Krauter. 5,014,685 May 1991 Takahashi. 5,025,804 June 1991 Kondo. 5,031,814 July 1991 Tompkins et al.. 5,042,707 August 1991 Taheri. 5,065,929 November 1991 Schulze et al.. 5,108,819 April 1992 Wollschager et al.. 5,125,395 June 1992 Adair. 5,143,475 September 1992 Chikama. 5,156,315 October 1992 Green et al.. 5,158,086 October 1992 Brown et al.. 5,167,221 December 1992 Chikama. 5,168,864 December 1992 Shockey. 5,174,276 December 1992 Crockard. 5,174,277 December 1992 Matsumaru. 5,176,126 January 1993 Chikama. 5,178,129 January 1993 Chikama. 5,179,935 January 1993 Miyagi. 5,195,968 March 1993 Lundquist et al.. 5,307,976 May 1994 Olson et al.. 5,312,023 May 1994 Green et al.. 5,318,221 June 1994 Green et al.. 5,326,013 July 1994 Green et al.. 5,332,142 July 1994 Robinson et al.. 5,391,180 February 1995 Tovey et al.. 5,394,864 March 1995 Kobayashi et al.. 5,411,519 May 1995 Tovey et al.. 5,417,203 May 1995 Tovey et al.. 5,447,265 September 1995 Vidol et al.. 5,478,003 December 1995 Green et al.. 5,485,947 January 1996 Olson et al.. 5,489,058 February 1996 Plyley et al.. 5,632,432 May 1997 Schulze et al.. 227/180.1 B1 5,040,715 August 1991 Green et al..

1. A disposable loading unit for a surgical stapling apparatus comprising:
 a) a staple cartridge body having a longitudinal pathway extending therethrough and a plurality of spaced apart retention slots defined therein, each supporting a respective surgical fastener;  
 b) a plurality of fastener ejection members disposed adjacent the plurality of spaced apart retention slots and communicating with the longitudinal pathway;  
 c) an actuator at least partially disposed within the staple cartridge body and configured to be translated through the longitudinal pathway to contact the fastener ejection members and thereby sequentially eject the surgical fasteners from their respective retention slots, the actuator including a base portion defining a plane and having at least two upstanding parallel cam plates each defining an angled leading edge for contacting the fastener ejection members;  
 d) a cutting member configured to translate through the staple cartridge body, the cutting member having a blade and a blade support, the blade support including a camming surface spaced from the blade configured to interact with an abutment surface defined within a distal end portion of the staple cartridge body, wherein the staple cartridge body includes a planar tissue contacting surface through which extends a linear slot to accommodate translation of the cutting member, the planar tissue contacting surface defining a tissue contacting plane, the cutting member intersecting the tissue contacting plane during the translation thereof, and moving out of intersection with the tissue contacting plane when the camming surface of the cutting member contacts the abutment surface of the staple cartridge body.  
 
     
     
       2. A disposable loading unit according to  claim 1 , wherein the cutting member is pivotably supported at least partially within the staple cartridge body. 
     
     
       3. A disposable loading unit according to  claim 2 , wherein the cutting member is pivotably supported by the actuator about a pivot axis located distally of the blade. 
     
     
       4. A disposable loading unit for a surgical stapling apparatus comprising:
 a) a staple cartridge body having a longitudinal pathway extending therethrough and at least two rows of spaced apart retention slots defined therein, each slot supporting a respective surgical fastener, the staple cartridge body defining a planar tissue contacting surface having a linear slot extending therethrough, the staple cartridge body further defining an abutment surface formed near a distal end thereof;  
 b) a plurality of fastener ejection members disposed adjacent the plurality of spaced apart retention slots and communicating with the longitudinal pathway;  
 c) an actuator at least partially disposed within the staple cartridge body, the actuator having: 
 i) a base portion; and  
 ii) at least two upstanding parallel cam plates extending from a base portion, each of the at least two cam plates defining an angled leading edge, such that the angled leading edges are longitudinally aligned with the at least two rows of spaced apart retention slots so as to contact the fastener ejection members upon translational movement of the actuator through the longitudinal pathway and to thereby sequentially eject the surgical fasteners from their respective retention slots; and  
 
 d) a cutting member pivotably mounted with respect to the actuator and translatably slidable with the actuator in the linear slot of the staple cartridge body, the cutting member having a blade and a flange including an upper surface which interacts with the abutment surface of the staple cartridge body, the flange being spaced distally of the blade, the cutting member being pivotable from a first position intersecting a tissue contacting plane defined by the planar tissue cutting surface, to a second position out of intersection with the tissue contacting plane, the cutting member being pivotable to the second position when the camming surface of the cutting member contacts the abutment surface of the staple cartridge body.  
 
     
     
       5. A disposable loading unit for a surgical stapling apparatus comprising:
   a staple cartridge body defining a longitudinal pathway and a plurality of spaced apart retention slots, each retention slot being dimensioned to receive a surgical fastener;        a plurality of fastener ejection members disposed adjacent the plurality of spaced apart retention slots and communicating with the longitudinal pathway;        an actuator at least partially disposed within the staple cartridge body and configured to be translated through the longitudinal pathway to contact the fastener ejection members and sequentially eject the surgical fasteners from their respective retention slots, the actuator including a base portion defining a plane and having at least two upstanding parallel cam plates each defining an angled leading edge for contacting the fastener ejection members;        a cutting member including a blade and a blade carrier, the cutting member being configured to translate through the staple cartridge body, the blade carrier including a flange configured to engage the base portion of the actuator;        wherein the staple cartridge body includes a planar tissue contacting surface through which extends a linear slot to accommodate translation of the cutting member, the planar tissue contacting surface defining a tissue contacting plane, the cutting member being movable from a first position intersecting the tissue contacting plane to a second position located beneath the tissue contacting plane.      
     
     
       6. A disposable loading unit according to  claim 5 , wherein the at least two upstanding parallel cam plates includes four upstanding parallel cam plates.  
     
     
       7. A disposable loading unit according to  claim 6 , wherein two of the four upstanding parallel cam plates are positioned on each side of the linear slot.  
     
     
       8. A disposable loading unit according to  claim 5 , wherein the blade is located proximally of the angled leading edge of each of the at least two upstanding parallel cam plates.  
     
     
       9. A disposable loading unit for a surgical stapling apparatus comprising:
   a staple cartridge body having a planar tissue contacting surface defining a tissue contacting plane, said body defining a longitudinal pathway therethrough and a linear slot traversing said planar tissue contacting surface, said body further defining a plurality of fastener retention slots on both sides of said linear slot, said fastener retention slots slidably supporting a respective surgical fastener and at least a portion of a surgical fastener ejection member;        an actuator having a beam portion and at least two cam plates having distal camming surfaces, said actuator configured to move in at least a distal direction through said longitudinal pathway to sequentially engage said cam plates with a portion of said surgical fastener ejection members to drive said surgical fasteners transversely with respect to said longitudinal pathway;        a cutting member having a blade support and a blade, the blade support of said cutting member being connected to said beam portion of said actuator in a manner that allows said blade to translate with said actuator from adjacent a proximal end of said linear slot to adjacent a distal end of said linear slot to bisect said tissue contacting plane, said blade support including a proximally projecting flange which contacts the actuator, wherein when the actuator moves distally through said longitudinal pathway, the blade support, in cooperation with the beam portion of the actuator, maintains the blase in a cutting position.      
     
     
       10. A disposable loading unit according to  claim 9 , wherein said blade support is positioned proximal to said distal camming surfaces of said cam plates.  
     
     
       11. A disposable loading unit according to  claim 9 , wherein said longitudinal pathway defined in said staple cartridge body is configured to allow said blade to be lowered substantially out of said tissue contacting plane adjacent a distal portion of said linear slot.