Patent Application
20100059571
The present invention relates to a surgical stapler used in surgery operations, more particularly, to a circular stapler with an automatic safety mechanism, which is in the technical field of medical instruments.
A surgical stapler is a kind of medical instrument which is commonly used in surgery operations for intestinal or other tissue, the performance of the surgical stapler is very important to the success of whole surgery operation. A safety device is generally disposed on the surgical stapler in order to avoid mis-actuating. In prior art, most safety devices on circular staplers are operated manually, that is, when a doctor performs a surgery operation on a patient, the doctor does not release the safety device to perform actuations until he has already finished all the preparation works. But this kind of safety device has deficiencies identified in practice: if the doctor is less experienced, he may release the safety device to perform actuations in surgery operations even though the stapling distance is not in the right range, which leads to unwanted surgery operation results; or if the safety device is forgotten to be locked when replacing the stapler head assembly, it is very likely to grip the actuator trigger, accordingly the staples are shot out of the stapler head assembly, which leads to the failure of the surgery operation; some doctors may give a second actuation so as to avoid incomplete actuating, which results in tissue to be clamped into pieces. Therefore, the “safety device” and “device preventing second actuation” on this kind of stapler have become a research focus for people.
Regarding safety device, U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,731 disclosed a rotatable safety device disposed on an adjusting knob and U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,104 disclosed a safety device which is pivotally connected with a stapler body; both of the above mentioned staplers require the doctor to release the safety device manually when reaching the actuatable position. Chinese patent no. 99229088 disclosed an automatic safety device which is complex in assembling with too many parts and it is very difficult to get reset after being released; Chinese patent no. 99227301 disclosed a safety device by a safety rod propping against a screw rod, but the screw rod can be easily bent with this configuration.
Regarding the second actuation, Chinese patent no. 98121969 disclosed a safety device which can be automatically reset by a spring to prevent second actuation, which has deficiencies that: the spring is disposed outside the stapler body which increases the risk of clamping tissues, similarly the safety device props against the screw rod which can easily cause the screw rod bent. Due to the above mentioned reasons, according to the applicant's knowledge,—currently used staples in practice are not equipped with proper safety device to prevent the second actuation.
The invention is aimed at solving the problems of prior art surgical staplers by providing a circular stapler with an automatic safety mechanism, of which the safety mechanism can be operated automatically without manual operations thus improving safety and reliability to the surgery operations.
The object of the present invention is achieved by the following technical scheme:
A circular stapler with an automatic safety mechanism comprises a stapler body, a stapler head, an actuating mechanism and a transmission adjusting mechanism, wherein the actuating mechanism comprises a handle and a handle coat, the handle is connected with the handle coat and is pivotally connected with the stapler body, the transmission adjusting mechanism comprises a screw rod and an adjusting knob, the front end of the screw rod is connected with an anvil pulling rod while its rear end is connected with the adjusting knob by means of screw threads, wherein a stopper is disposed either inside said handle or said handle coat; a safety rod and a pulling sheet are further provided, the safety rod has a safety block on one end and has a protruding block and a pin hole as its middle portion, a cylindrical pin is inserted into the pin hole so as to get the safety rod to be pivotally connected with the stapler body; the pulling sheet has a rear portion mounted on the screw rod and has a pulling hook at its front portion, the pulling hook hooks with a protruding block which is the middle portion of the safety rod; a restoring spring is provided so as to connect the safety rod with the stapler body, the safety rod is driven by the biased spring to get reset by rotating anticlockwise around the cylindrical pin which connects the spring with the stapler body, until said safety block props against the stopper which is either disposed inside the handle or the handle coat.
Furthermore, said safety rod has a pointer on the other end, the pointer could be viewed from an indicator window which is disposed at a corresponding place of the stapler body; the restoring spring is disposed at the connection place of the safety rod and on the side where the pointer is located.
Furthermore, the front portion of said pulling sheet is divided longitudinally into at least three plates, and the pulling hook is the front portion of the middle plate; a protruding block is disposed on the handle, when the handle is gripped, the protruding block props against and pushes away said middle plate, thereby said pulling hook is disengaged from the protruding block which is the middle portion of the safety rod.
Furthermore, the front portion of said pulling sheet is particularly divided into three plates, and the pulling hook is the front portion of the middle plate, the two side plates are respectively disposed in guide slots of the stapler body; and the middle portion of said screw rod has a small diameter portion.
Furthermore, the stopper is disposed inside the handle, said stopper and said handle are made into an integral; or, the stopper and the handle are separate parts with said stopper fixed on the two side walls of the handle.
Furthermore, the stopper is disposed inside the handle coat, said stopper and said handle coat are made into an integral; or, the stopper and the handle coat are separate parts with said stopper fixed on the two side walls of said handle coat.
Furthermore, the stopper is a block part or a pin.
Furthermore, the handle and the handle coat are two separate parts, or they are made into an integral.
The stapler of the present invention has automatic safety protection function and prevents a second actuation, because the present invention provides a safety rod and a pulling sheet, wherein the pulling sheet works collaborately with a protruding block and a stopper which are disposed on the handle and the handle coat. Compared with the prior art, the stapler of the present invention is simple in structure, has good practicality, has fewer parts and is easily assembled. Before using, the safety block of the safety rod props against the stopper on or in the handle or handle coat so that the stapler can not be actuated, which provides an automatic safety protection; in the process of use, the safety rod rotates clockwise because of the pulling force from the pulling hook, when reaching the actuatable position, the safety block is automatically disengaged from the stopper, so that the doctor is able to perform the surgery operation immediately, it is more conveniently; then release the handle when finishing the actuation, the safety block of the safety rod is automatically return to against the stopper, this time, the pulling sheet is already disengaged from the protruding block which is the middle portion of the safety rod, which prevents the stapler from a second actuation.
Further features and advantages of the surgical stapler of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description in combination with the appended drawings. Along with the embodiments mentioned above, the present invention is also available in other embodiments, that is, any technical schemes with same functions but in any of different forms are within the protection scope of the claims of the present invention.
a is a front view of the stopper of the handle shown in
b is a perspective view of the stopper of the handle shown in
As shown in
In another embodiment of the present invention, a stopper 8 is disposed inside the handle coat 2, as illustrated in
The pulling sheet 5 has a rear portion 9 mounted on the screw rod 4 and has a pulling hook 10 on its front portion, the pulling hook 10 hooks with a protruding block 14 which is the middle portion of the safety rod 3. The front portion of said pulling sheet 5 is divided into three plates, and the pulling hook 10 is the front end of the middle plate, the other two side plates 11a and 11b are respectively disposed in guide slots of the stapler body. Furthermore, a protruding block 7 is disposed on the handle 1, when the handle 1 is gripped, the protruding block 7 props against and pushes away said middle plate, thereby the pulling hook 10 is disengaged from the protruding block 14 which is middle portion of the safety rod 3.
When the stapler of the present invention is in the initial state, the safety block 13 which is one end of the safety rod 3 props against with the stopper 8 which is disposed inside the handle coat 2, so that the handle 1 and the handle coat 2 can not be gripped as illustrated in
To ensure good implementation effect, the middle part of said screw rod 4 is preferably to be a small diameter portion 15, thereby enough movement space is made in the middle of the pulling sheet 5, and the pulling sheet 5 is driven to move by the force from the protruding block 7 of the handle 1 so as to ensure the pulling hook 10 to disengage completely from the protruding block 14 which is the middle portion of the safety rod 3.
The above mentioned embodiment is the stopper 8 disposed inside the handle coat 2 (as illustrated in
Besides, it should be noted that, normally the handle 1 and the handle coat 2 are separate parts, the handle 1 is normally made from metal material and the handle coat 2 is made from synthetic materials of polymer, the handle 1 and the handle coat 2 are assembled together when they are made ready. Also, the handle 1 and the handle 2 can be made into an integral so as to have fewer parts.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 200520139728.9 | Dec 2005 | CN | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2006/003068 | 11/15/2006 | WO | 00 | 11/18/2008 |
