TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to a surgical apparatus, and more particularly, to a surgical buttress for use with a surgical stapling apparatus during operation of the stapling apparatus to apply a plurality of surgical staples to body tissue.

BACKGROUND

As medical and hospital costs continue to increase, surgeons are constantly striving to develop advanced surgical techniques. Advances in the surgical field are often related to the development of operative techniques which involve less invasive surgical procedures and reduce overall patient trauma. In this manner, the length of hospital stays can be significantly reduced, and, therefore, the hospital and medical costs can be reduced as well.

Although the present disclosure includes, but is not limited to use with endoscopic surgery, endoscopic surgery is one of the truly great advances in recent years to reduce the invasiveness of surgical procedures. Generally, endoscopic surgery involves incising through body walls for example, viewing and/or operating on the ovaries, uterus, gall bladder, bowels, kidneys, appendix, etc. There are many common endoscopic surgical procedures, including arthroscopy, laparoscopy (pelviscopy), gastroentroscopy and laryngobronchoscopy, just to name a few. Typically, trocars are utilized for creating the incisions through which the endoscopic surgery is performed. Trocar tubes or cannula devices are extended into and left in place in the abdominal wall to provide access for endoscopic surgical tools. A camera or endoscope is inserted through a relatively large diameter trocar tube which is generally located at the naval incision, and permits the visual inspection and magnification of the body cavity. The surgeon can then perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures at the surgical site with the aid of specialized instrumentation, such as, forceps, cutters, applicators, and the like which are designed to fit through additional cannulas. Thus, instead of a large incision (typically 12 inches or larger) that cuts through major muscles, patients undergoing endoscopic surgery receive more cosmetically appealing incisions, between 5 and 10 millimeters in size. Recovery is, therefore, much quicker and patients require less anesthesia than traditional surgery. In addition, because the surgical field is greatly magnified, surgeons are better able to dissect blood vessels and control blood loss. Heat and water loss are greatly reduced as a result of the smaller incisions. In order to address the specific needs of endoscopic and/or laparoscopic surgical procedures, endoscopic surgical stapling devices have been developed and are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,715 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,976 (Olson, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,312,023 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,221 (Green, et al.); U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,013 (Green, et al.); and U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,142 (Robinson, et al.).

In many surgical procedures, including those involved in open and endoscopic surgery, it is often necessary to staple tissue. It is especially challenging during endoscopic surgery because of the small openings through which the stapling of tissues must be accomplished. Instruments for this purpose can include two elongated members which are respectively used to capture or clamp tissue. Surgical devices wherein tissue is first grasped or clamped between opposing jaw structure and then joined by surgical fasteners are well known in the art. Typically, one of the members carries a fastener cartridge which houses a plurality of staples arranged in at least two lateral rows while the other member has an anvil that defines a surface for forming the staple legs as the staples are driven from the staple cartridge. The fasteners are typically in the form of surgical staples but two part polymeric fasteners can also be utilized. Generally, the stapling operation is effected by cam bars or wedges that travel longitudinally through the staple cartridge, with the cam bars acting upon staple pushers to sequentially eject the staples from the staple cartridge. A knife can travel between the staple rows to longitudinally cut and/or open the stapled tissue between the rows of staples. Such instruments are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,079,606 and 3,490,675.

A later stapler disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,499,591 applies a double row of staples on each side of the incision. This is accomplished by providing a disposable loading unit in which a cam member moves through an elongate guide path between two sets of staggered staple carrying grooves. Staple drive members are located within the grooves and are positioned in such a manner so as to be contacted by the longitudinally moving cam member to effect ejection of the staples from the staple cartridge of the disposable loading unit. U.S. Surgical, the assignee of the present application, has manufactured and marketed endoscopic stapling instruments for several years. Examples of such instruments include the Multifire ENDO GIA™ 30 and Multifire ENDO GIA™ 60 instruments. Other examples of such staplers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,429,695 and 5,065,929.

In staplers of the general type described above, surgical buttress material may be used in combination with these instruments as reinforcement to staple lines to further promote proper staple formation while reducing twisting/malformation caused by any misalignment or unusual or non-uniform tissue. These instruments have provided significant clinical benefits. Nonetheless, improvements are possible, for example, by reducing the complexity of manufacture and/or application.

SUMMARY

According to one aspect, the present disclosure relates to an end effector for a surgical stapling apparatus. The end effector includes an anvil assembly and a surgical buttress. The anvil assembly includes an anvil body and an anvil plate that are selectively connectable. The anvil plate includes a bottom surface that defines a plurality of staple forming pockets. The surgical buttress includes a buttress body and a plurality of arms extending from the body. The surgical buttress may be formed of a non-woven material and may be made from a material selected from the group comprising polyglytone 6211, glycolide, caprolactone, trimethylene carbonate, lactide and combinations thereof.

The arms of the surgical buttress may extend from side edges of the buttress body and may be integrally formed with the buttress body. Notably, the arms of the surgical buttress may be foldable over one or both of a top and a bottom surface of the buttress body. As can be appreciated, the arms are disposable between a top surface of the anvil plate and a bottom surface of the anvil body to support the buttress body against the bottom surface of the anvil plate when the anvil plate and the anvil body are connected to one another. The anvil body defines one or more channels in a bottom surface of the anvil body for the reception of one or more of the arms of the surgical buttress.

According to one aspect, a surgical stapling apparatus includes a first jaw assembly, a second jaw assembly, a plurality of fasteners, and a surgical buttress. The first jaw assembly includes an anvil body and an anvil plate. The anvil plate defines a plurality of fastener forming pockets in a bottom surface thereof. The second jaw assembly includes a fastener cartridge defining a plurality of fastener retaining slots. The plurality of fasteners is disposed within the fastener slots and configured and dimensioned to be formed by the fastener pockets of the anvil plate upon a firing of the stapling apparatus. The surgical buttress includes a buttress body and a plurality of arms extending from the buttress body. As appreciated, the surgical buttress may be formed of a non-woven material and may be made from a material selected from the group comprising polyglytone 6211, glycolide, caprolactone, trimethylene carbonate, lactide and combinations thereof.

The arms of the surgical buttress may be integrally formed with the buttress body and may extend from side surfaces of the buttress body. The arms may be foldable over one or both of a top and a bottom surface of the buttress body. The arms may be disposed between a top surface of the anvil plate and a bottom surface of the anvil body to support the buttress body against the bottom surface of the anvil plate. The anvil body of the first jaw assembly may define one or more channels in the bottom surface thereof for the reception of one or more of the arms of the surgical buttress. The one or more arms may be released from the one or more channels upon a firing of the stapling apparatus.

The surgical stapling apparatus may include a knife assembly including a knife that is movable through one or both of the first and second jaw assemblies to cut one or both of the buttress body and the arms of the surgical buttress to facilitate a release of at least the buttress body from against the bottom surface of the anvil plate.

According to yet another aspect, a method of mounting a surgical buttress to an end effector of a surgical stapling apparatus includes providing an end effector for a surgical stapling apparatus. The end effector includes a first jaw assembly and a second jaw assembly. The first jaw assembly includes an anvil body and an anvil plate. The anvil plate defines a plurality of fastener forming pockets in a bottom surface thereof. The second jaw assembly includes a cartridge defining a plurality of fastener retaining slots for retaining a plurality of fasteners that are formed by the fastener forming pockets upon a firing of the stapling apparatus. The method involves providing a surgical buttress including a buttress body and a plurality of arms extending from the body and mounting the arms of the surgical buttress between a top surface of the anvil plate and the bottom surface of the jaw so that the buttress body is disposed adjacent the bottom surface of the anvil plate.

The method may include the step of positioning the arms of the surgical buttress within channels defined in the bottom surface of the anvil body. One step may include forming the surgical buttress from a non-woven material. The method may involve forming the surgical buttress from a material selected from the group comprising polyglytone 6211, glycolide, caprolactone, trimethylene carbonate, lactide and combinations thereof.

