Staple line reinforcement for anvil and cartridge

1. A surgical buttress for use in a surgical stapling apparatus, the surgical buttress comprising:

an elongate rectangular body portion defining a width, the body portion including a distal portion having a width linearly tapering in a distal direction between opposed linear distal edges to a distal end of the body portion;

a neck portion integrally formed with and extending from the distal end of the body portion, the neck portion defining a width;

a head portion integrally formed with and connected to a distal end of the neck portion, the head portion defining a width; and

a tail portion integrally formed with and extending from a proximal end of the body portion, the tail portion defining a width,

wherein the width of the tail portion is less than the width of the body portion, and the surgical buttress is formed from a material having filaments.

2. The surgical buttress according to claim 1 , wherein the width of the neck portion is less than the width of the body portion.

3. The surgical buttress according to claim 2 , wherein the width of the neck portion is less than the width of the tail portion.

4. The surgical buttress according to claim 3 , wherein the width of the neck portion is more than one-half the width of the body portion.

5. The surgical buttress according to claim 1 , wherein a length of the head portion is greater than a length of the tail portion.

6. The surgical buttress according to claim 1 , wherein a length of the head portion is greater than a length of the neck portion.

7. The surgical buttress according to claim 1 , wherein the tail portion defines at least one pair of opposing proximal recesses, each proximal recess of the at least one pair of opposing recesses is formed on an opposing lateral side of the tail portion.

8. The surgical buttress according to claim 1 , wherein the body portion further defines a pair of opposing distal recesses, each distal recess of the pair of opposing distal recesses is formed on an opposing lateral side of the body portion near the distal portion of the body portion.

9. The surgical buttress according to claim 7 , wherein the tail portion of the surgical buttress defines a proximal edge recess formed in a proximal edge thereof, wherein the proximal edge recess longitudinally bisects the proximal edge.

10. The surgical buttress according to claim 1 , wherein the surgical buttress is fabricated from a biocompatible and bioabsorbable material.

11. The surgical buttress according to claim 1 , wherein the surgical buttress is fabricated from a material selected from the group consisting of polyglycolic acid and glycolide trimethylene carbonate.

12. The surgical buttress according to claim 1 , wherein the surgical buttress is formed as a non-woven material.

13. A surgical buttress for use with a surgical stapling apparatus having a cartridge assembly of any number of lengths and an anvil assembly of any number of lengths corresponding to the lengths of the cartridge assembly, wherein each of the cartridge assembly and anvil assembly defines respective juxtaposed tissue contacting surfaces, and wherein the cartridge assembly includes a plurality of staples stored in staple slots thereof for formation against staple formation pockets of the anvil assembly, the surgical buttress comprising:

an elongate rectangular body portion defining a length and a width, the body portion including a distal portion having a width tapering in a distal direction between opposed linear distal edges;

a neck portion integrally formed with and extending from a distal end of the body portion, the neck portion defining a length and a width;

a head portion integrally formed with and connected to a distal end of the neck portion, the head portion defining a length and a width; and

a tail portion integrally formed with and extending from a proximal end of the body portion, the tail portion defining a length and a width, and two pairs of opposing proximal recesses, each proximal recess of each pair of the two pairs of opposing proximal recesses formed in an opposing lateral side of the tail portion,

wherein the width of the tail portion is less than the width of the body portion,

wherein the body portion and the tail portion are configured and dimensioned to at least one of:

overlie all of the staple slots of the cartridge assembly for any length cartridge assembly, and

overlie all of the staple formation pockets of the anvil assembly for any length anvil assembly.

14. The surgical buttress according to claim 13 , wherein the width of the neck portion is less than the width of the body portion.

15. The surgical buttress according to claim 14 , wherein the width of the neck portion is less than the width of the tail portion.

16. The surgical buttress according to claim 15 , wherein the width of the neck portion is more than one-half the width of the body portion.

17. The surgical buttress according to claim 13 , wherein the length of the head portion is greater than the length of the neck portion.

18. The surgical buttress according to claim 13 , further comprising at least one pair of opposing recesses formed on opposing lateral sides of the body portion of the surgical buttress.

19. The surgical buttress according to claim 13 , wherein the surgical buttress is formed from a non-woven material.

20. The surgical buttress according to claim 1 , wherein the tail portion defines two pairs of opposing proximal recesses, each proximal recess of each pair of the two pairs of opposing proximal recesses formed in an opposing lateral side of the tail portion.