Surgical stapling apparatus having a wound closure material applicator assembly
A surgical stapling apparatus includes a staple anvil and a staple cartridge having a working surface, one or more rows of individual staple slots formed in the working surface, a knife track formed along a length of the working surface, and a plurality of surgical staples individually disposed within the individual staple slots. The apparatus further includes an actuation sled having a knife and being configured and adapted to movably position the knife axially within the knife track. The apparatus also includes a wound closure material applicator assembly having a needle secured to the knife to dispense a quantity of wound closure material along a length of the knife track as the actuation sled and knife are moved therealong.
1. A surgical apparatus, comprising:
a first jaw member;
a second jaw member disposed in mechanical cooperation with the first jaw member, at least one of the first jaw member or the second jaw member being movable relative to the other jaw member;
a sled movable along a longitudinal axis relative to the first jaw member;
a knife blade supported by the sled and positioned proximally of the sled;
a conduit disposed in mechanical cooperation with the sled and including a first aperture and a second aperture, the first aperture positioned proximally of the knife blade, disposed on a first lateral side of the longitudinal axis and spaced from the longitudinal axis, the second aperture positioned proximally of the knife blade, disposed on a second lateral side of the longitudinal axis and spaced from the longitudinal axis; and
a source of wound closure material in fluid communication with the conduit.
2. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first jaw member includes a staple cartridge and the second jaw member includes an anvil.
3. The surgical apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising a plurality of fasteners disposed at least partially within the staple cartridge.
4. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the knife blade is supported by a shank of the sled.
5. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the source of wound closure material is selected from the group consisting of a syringe and a compressible reservoir.
6. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the conduit is fixed from longitudinal movement relative to the sled.
7. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the conduit is attached to the sled.
8. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first jaw member includes a knife slot.
9. The surgical apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein during actuation of the surgical apparatus, the conduit is progressively advanced along the knife slot from a proximal end to a distal end thereof.
10. The surgical apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein the first jaw member includes at least two linear rows of fasteners on both sides of the knife slot.
11. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein both the first aperture and the second aperture are oriented in a direction that is parallel to the longitudinal axis.
12. The surgical apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein both the first aperture and the second aperture open distally.
13. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein both the first aperture and the second aperture are oriented in a direction that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis.
14. The surgical apparatus according to claim 13 , wherein both the first aperture and the second aperture are oriented toward the first jaw member when the sled is in a distal-most position thereof relative to the first jaw member.
15. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the source of wound closure material includes a first reservoir having a first component of a wound closure material, and a second reservoir having a second component of the wound closure material.
16. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a driving member disposed in mechanical cooperation with the sled and being configured to translate the sled distally along the longitudinal axis.
17. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the sled is removably attached to the driving member and contained at least partially within the first jaw member.
18. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the conduit includes a plurality of apertures including the first aperture and the second aperture, wherein each aperture of the plurality of apertures is positioned proximally of the knife blade.
19. The surgical apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the knife blade and the conduit are fixed from moving longitudinally relative to the sled.