Surgical end effector adjunct attachment
Various embodiments of a surgical end effector are provided. The end effector can include upper and lower jaws, and an anvil assembly configured to be releasably coupled to the upper and/or lower jaws. The anvil assembly can include an anvil plate that mates and aligns with the jaw, and staple pockets that align with staple cavities formed in the cartridge for formed staples fired from the cartridge. An adjunct material can be releasably secured to either the cartridge or anvil assembly, such as with one or more sutures.
1. An end effector for a surgical instrument, comprising:
upper and lower jaws movably coupled to one another and configured to move between open and closed configurations for clamping tissue therebetween, the upper jaw having a knife slot configured to allow a knife to advance therealong;
a cartridge having an inner tissue-facing surface with a plurality of staple cavities with staples disposed therein, the cartridge being configured to releasably couple to the lower jaw;
an anvil assembly having a detachable anvil plate with a plurality of staple forming pockets formed therein on an inner tissue-facing surface thereof, the anvil assembly being releasably coupled to the cartridge and configured to releasably couple to the upper jaw;
a first adjunct material releasably secured to the inner tissue-facing surface of the detachable anvil plate; and
a first restraining element extending across the first adjunct material and at least a portion of a top surface of the detachable anvil plate for securing the first adjunct to the detachable anvil plate, the top surface being opposite of the inner tissue-facing surface of the detachable anvil plate.
2. The end effector of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second adjunct material releasably secured to the inner tissue-facing surface of the cartridge; and
a second restraining element extending across the second adjunct material for securing the second adjunct to the cartridge.
3. The end effector of claim 2 , wherein a terminal end of the second restraining element is fixedly attached to an attachment site formed on one of a bottom surface of the cartridge and a side surface of the cartridge.
4. The end effector of claim 2 , further comprising a pan coupled to the cartridge such that an inner surface of the pan applies a compressive force against opposed terminal ends of the second restraining element to secure the second restraining element to the cartridge.
5. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the detachable anvil plate includes at least one notch formed in a perimeter thereof and configured to prevent sliding of the first restraining element relative to the detachable anvil plate.
6. The end effector of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the cartridge and the lower jaw includes a notch formed therein and configured to prevent sliding of the second restraining element.
7. The end effector of claim 1 , further comprising an alignment feature extending outward from the detachable anvil plate and configured to engage a complementary alignment feature on the upper jaw for aligning the detachable anvil plate relative to the upper jaw.
8. The end effector of claim 1 , further comprising a coupling feature on the anvil assembly and configured to move the detachable anvil plate between an open anvil configuration and a closed anvil configuration relative to the cartridge.
9. The end effector of claim 8 , wherein the coupling feature is formed from an elastic material that is configured to bias the detachable anvil plate to the open anvil configuration when the opposed jaws are in the open configuration.
10. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein the first restraining element comprises a suture formed from a material selected from the group consisting of a thermoplastic material, a polydioxanone material, an elastic material, a biocompatible material, and combinations thereof.
11. The end effector of claim 1 , wherein a terminal end of the first restraining element is fixedly attached to an attachment site formed on the detachable anvil plate.
12. The end effector of claim 11 , wherein the attachment site comprises a roughened surface region.
13. The end effector of claim 11 , wherein the attachment site is formed on one of the top surface of the detachable anvil plate and a side surface of the detachable anvil plate.
14. An end effector assembly for a surgical instrument, comprising:
a cartridge having an inner tissue-facing surface with a plurality of staple cavities with staples disposed therein, the cartridge being configured to releasably couple to a lower jaw of an end effector of the surgical instrument;
an anvil assembly having an anvil plate with a plurality of staple forming pockets formed therein on an inner tissue-facing surface thereof, the anvil assembly being directly and releasably coupled to the cartridge and configured to releasably couple to an upper jaw of the end effector, wherein the anvil plate has at least one first coupling feature, and the cartridge has at least one second coupling feature configured to releasably couple to the at least one first mating feature;
a first adjunct material releasably secured to the inner tissue-facing surface of the anvil plate; and
a first restraining element extending across the first adjunct material and at least a portion of a top surface of the anvil plate for securing the first adjunct to the anvil plate, the top surface being opposite of the inner tissue-facing surface of the anvil plate.
15. The end effector assembly of claim 14 , further comprising:
a second adjunct material releasably secured to the inner tissue-facing surface of the cartridge; and
a second restraining element extending across the second adjunct material for securing the second adjunct to the cartridge.
16. The end effector assembly of claim 15 , wherein a terminal end of the first restraining element is fixedly attached to an attachment site formed on the anvil plate and the second restraining element is fixedly attached to an attachment site formed on the cartridge.
17. The end effector assembly of claim 15 , further comprising a pan coupled to the cartridge such that an inner surface of the pan applies a compressive force against opposed terminal ends of the second restraining element to secure the second restraining element to the cartridge.
18. The end effector assembly of claim 15 , wherein the cartridge includes a notch formed therein and configured to prevent sliding of the second restraining element.
19. The end effector assembly of claim 14 , wherein the anvil plate includes at least one notch formed in a perimeter thereof and configured to prevent sliding of the first restraining element relative to the anvil plate.