CN-122028855-A - Clamp for needle driver and method of making and using the same

Abstract

An improved clamp for a needle driver is disclosed. The clip includes an upper jaw having an upper roller and a lower jaw having a lower roller, and includes guards distributed across the jaws that prevent needles and/or sutures from entering the non-gripping portions of the clip. The clamp further includes a displacement feature distributed across at least one of the jaws and at least one of the rollers. The shifting feature progressively "shifts" or moves one of the rollers in the longitudinal direction toward the distal end of the needle driver while the other roller remains stationary until the shifting roller overlaps the stationary roller and the peaks of the shifting roller ride within the valleys of the stationary roller, thereby grasping the suture thread between the rollers. The clamp also drives the needle between the rollers when the clamp is in the drive position.

Inventors

• S. Seligman

Assignees

• 埃尔戈外科集团公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20240829

Priority Date

20230829

Claims (20)

1. 1. A clip for a needle driver, the clip having a distal end at a distal end of the needle driver, the clip comprising: a first jaw and a second jaw, wherein the first jaw houses a first roller and the second jaw houses a second roller, and wherein the first roller comprises a first groove pattern and the second roller comprises a second groove pattern, and wherein the first jaw is pivotally connected to the second jaw via a pin at a proximal end of the clip, the proximal end of the clip being opposite a distal end thereof; a guard distributed across the first and second jaws, wherein the guard has a trailing edge facing the proximal end of the clip and a leading edge facing the distal end of the needle driver; A gripping portion extending from the front edge of the guard to the distal end of the clip, wherein a groove pattern of the roller is located within the gripping portion, and A non-gripping portion extending from the rear edge of the guard to the pin.
2. 2. The clip of claim 1, wherein the guard is configured to prevent at least one of a needle or suture from entering the non-grasping portion from the leading edge of the guard.
3. 3. The clamp of claim 1, wherein the guard comprises: A first flange extending upwardly from a first side of the first jaw; A second flange extending upwardly from a second side of the first jaw, wherein the first side of the first jaw opposes the second side of the first jaw in a longitudinal plane extending from the proximal end to a distal end thereof, and wherein each flange extends upwardly from a top surface of the first jaw to define the front edge of the guard and then extends downwardly and rearwardly to the top surface to define the rear edge of the guard, and A first recess formed in a first side of the second jaw and a second recess formed in a second side of the second jaw, wherein the first side of the second jaw is opposite the second side of the second jaw in the longitudinal plane; Wherein the first recess of the second jaw is configured to receive the first flange of the first jaw and the second recess of the second jaw is configured to receive the second flange of the first jaw such that the first flange and the second flange seat within the first recess and the second recess, respectively, when the clip is in a closed or grasping position.
4. 4. A clamp according to claim 3, wherein each of the first flange and the second flange has a curved shape.
5. 5. The clip according to claim 1, wherein the clip is configured to drive a needle in the gripping portion between the first groove pattern of the first roller and the second groove pattern of the second roller when the clip is in a drive position, and wherein the drive position is defined by: the peaks of the first groove pattern of the first roller being aligned with the peaks of the second groove pattern of the second roller, and The valleys of the first groove pattern of the first roller are aligned with the valleys of the second groove pattern of the second roller.
6. 6. The clip of claim 1, further comprising a displacement feature distributed across the first jaw and the second jaw, the displacement feature configured to place the clip in a gripping position that enables a suture to be gripped between the rollers in the gripping portion.
7. 7. The clip of claim 6, wherein the displacement feature moves the second roller toward the distal end of the clip and away from the first roller in a longitudinal plane while the first roller remains stationary in the longitudinal plane until the second groove pattern of the second roller overlaps the first groove pattern of the first roller to place the clip in the gripping position.
8. 8. The clamp of claim 1, further comprising: An inclined stationary member seated within the first jaw, and A bevel disk located at a rear end of the second roller of the second jaw, wherein the rear end of the second roller faces the proximal end of the clip, wherein the second jaw is displaced distally relative to the first jaw when the bevel disk is pressed against the inclined stationary member.
9. 9. The clip of claim 8, wherein the angled stationary member extends upwardly from a top surface of the first jaw, is angled toward the proximal end of the clip, and is angled away from a vertical plane perpendicular to the top surface of the first jaw in the proximal direction.
10. 10. The clamp of claim 8, wherein a diameter of the bevel disk is greater than a diameter of the second groove pattern of the second roller.
11. 11. The clamp of claim 8, wherein each of said first and second groove patterns includes a plurality of peaks and valleys, and wherein said displacement features begin to spread apart to define a roll gap distance of displacement features between opposing valleys of said first and second groove patterns when an angled edge of said bevel disk begins to contact a front surface of said angled stationary member before said clamp is in its gripping position, and Wherein when a suture thread having a diameter less than a roller gap distance of the displacement feature is located between the opposing valleys, the beveled edge of the bevel disk is gradually configured to press against the front surface of the beveled stationary member until the second groove pattern of the second roller overlaps the first groove pattern of the first roller to grasp the suture thread between the rollers.
12. 12. A needle driver comprising: a clip located at a distal end of the needle driver, the clip comprising: a first jaw and a second jaw, wherein the first jaw houses a first roller and the second jaw houses a second roller, and wherein the first roller comprises a first groove pattern and the second roller comprises a second groove pattern, and wherein the first jaw is pivotally connected to the second jaw via a pin at a proximal end of the clip, the proximal end of the clip being opposite a distal end thereof; a guard distributed across the first and second jaws, wherein the guard has a trailing edge facing the proximal end of the clip and a leading edge facing the distal end of the needle driver; A gripping portion extending from the front edge of the guard to the distal end of the clip, wherein a groove pattern of the roller is located within the gripping portion, and A non-gripping portion extending from the rear edge of the guard to the pin, and An actuation mechanism connected to the clip, the actuation mechanism configured to enable the clip to drive a needle into tissue of a patient when the needle is in the grasping portion and to enable the clip to grasp at least one of the needle or the suture when the at least one of the needle or the suture is in the grasping portion.
13. 13. The needle driver of claim 12, wherein the guard prevents the at least one of the needle or the suture from entering the non-grasping portion from the leading edge of the guard.
14. 14. The needle driver of claim 12, further comprising a displacement feature distributed across the first jaw and the second jaw, the displacement feature configured to place the clip in a grasping position that enables a suture to be grasped between the rollers in the grasping portion.
15. 15. The needle driver of claim 14, wherein the displacement feature moves the second roller toward the distal end of the clip and away from the first roller in a longitudinal plane while the first roller remains stationary in the longitudinal plane until the second groove pattern of the second roller overlaps the first groove pattern of the first roller to place the clip in the gripping position.
16. 16. The needle driver of claim 12, further comprising: An inclined stationary member seated within the first jaw, and A bevel disk located at a rear end of the second roller of the second jaw, wherein the rear end of the second roller faces the proximal end of the clamp.
17. 17. The needle driver of claim 16, wherein the inclined stationary member extends upwardly from a top surface of the first jaw, is inclined toward the proximal end of the clip, and is inclined in the proximal direction away from a vertical plane perpendicular to the top surface of the first jaw.
18. 18. The needle driver of claim 16, wherein each of the first and second groove patterns includes a plurality of peaks and valleys, and wherein the displacement feature begins to spread out to define a roll gap distance of displacement feature between opposing valleys of the first and second groove patterns when the beveled edge of the bevel disk begins to contact the front surface of the beveled stationary member before the clamp is in its gripping position, and Wherein when a suture thread having a diameter less than a roller gap distance of the displacement feature is located between the opposing valleys, the bevel disk is gradually configured to press against the front surface of the inclined stationary member until the second groove pattern of the second roller overlaps the first groove pattern of the first roller to grasp the suture thread between the rollers.
19. 19. The needle driver of claim 12, wherein the needle driver is a robotic needle driver comprising a robotic system, and wherein the robotic system is the actuation mechanism.
20. 20. The needle driver of claim 12, wherein the actuation mechanism is a handle contained within a housing and includes at least one rotational shaft under control of the handle, and wherein the at least one rotational shaft is connected to the clamp.

Description

Clamp for needle driver and method of making and using the same RELATED APPLICATIONS The application claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application No. 63/535,261 filed on 8/29 of 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. Technical Field In general, the present disclosure relates to surgical instruments. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to needle drivers including improved clamps therefor. Background A surgeon operating on tissue within a patient may need to suture tissue, grasp tissue, or dissect tissue. Each of these actions, however, typically requires a different set of surgical instruments that may be expensive to obtain, incompatible with each other, laborious to disinfect, non-ergonomic, cumbersome, or time-consuming to insert into or withdraw from the patient. In addition, if the suture requires a needle and the size of the needle varies, the set of different surgical instruments may need to include a needle-specific driver, otherwise known as a needle driver. Disclosure of Invention The needle driver can provide many benefits to the surgeon or any medical professional during surgery or other medical procedures, such as during laparoscopic surgery. An exemplary needle driver is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/447,543, now published at 26, 3, 2023, and 6, 2019, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety (hereinafter referred to as the needle driver of' 806). The present disclosure provides improvements to the needle driver of' 806. In particular, the present disclosure provides an improved clamp as compared to existing clamps of the needle driver of' 806. In general, according to one aspect, the disclosure features a clip for a needle driver. The clip has a distal end at the distal end of the needle driver, and the clip includes first and second jaws, a guard, a grasping portion, and a non-grasping portion. The first nip receives a first roller and the second nip receives a second roller, and the first roller includes a first groove pattern and the second roller includes a second groove pattern. The first jaw is also pivotally connected to the second jaw via a pin at a proximal end of the clip, wherein the proximal end of the clip is opposite the distal end thereof. The guard is distributed across the first jaw and the second jaw. The guard has a trailing edge facing the proximal end of the clip and a leading edge facing the distal end of the needle driver. The gripping portion extends from the front edge of the guard to the distal end of the clip and the groove pattern of the roller is located within the gripping portion. The non-gripping portion extends from the rear edge of the guard to the pin. Preferably, the guard prevents the needle and/or suture from entering the non-gripping portion from the leading edge of the guard. To this end, the guard includes a first flange extending upwardly from a first side of the first jaw, a second flange extending upwardly from a second side of the first jaw, and a first recess formed in the first side of the second jaw and a second recess formed in the second side of the second jaw. In more detail, a first side of the first jaw is opposite a second side of the first jaw in a longitudinal plane extending from a proximal end of the clip to a distal end thereof, and each flange extends upwardly from a top surface of the first jaw to define a front edge of the guard, and then downwardly and rearwardly to a top surface to define a rear edge of the guard. The first side of the second jaw is opposite the second side of the second jaw in a longitudinal plane. The first recess of the second jaw is configured to receive the first flange of the first jaw and the second recess of the second jaw is configured to receive the second flange of the first jaw such that the first flange and the second flange seat within the first recess and the second recess, respectively, when the clip is in the closed or grasping position. Typically, each of the first flange and the second flange has a curved shape. In one embodiment, the clamp is configured to drive the needle in the grasping portion between the first groove pattern of the first roller and the second groove pattern of the second roller when the clamp is in the drive position. The drive position is defined by the peaks of the first groove pattern of the first roller being aligned with the peaks of the second groove pattern of the second roller and the valleys of the first groove pattern of the first roller being aligned with the valleys of the second groove pattern of the second roller. The clip may further include a displacement feature distributed across the first jaw and the second jaw, the displacement feature configured to place the clip in a gripping position. The gripping position enables the suture to be gripped between the rollers in the gripping portion. In one example, the displacement feature is con