US-12616472-B2 - Articulating surgical stapling apparatus with pivotable knife bar guide assembly

US12616472B2US 12616472 B2US12616472 B2US 12616472B2US-12616472-B2

Abstract

A surgical stapling apparatus includes a shaft assembly, an end effector secured to the shaft assembly, a firing assembly, an articulation assembly, and an articulation guide. The firing assembly includes a flexible knife bar assembly that is selectively advanceable through the end effector for firing the end effector. The articulation assembly has an articulation link assembly and a pivotable bar guide assembly. The articulation link assembly is coupled to the end effector. The articulation link assembly is actuatable to cause the end effector to move relative to the shaft assembly between an unarticulated position and an articulated position. The articulation guide is associated with the pivotable bar guide assembly to enable the flexible knife bar assembly to advance through the pivotable bar guide assembly when the end effector is disposed in the unarticulated position or the articulated position.

Inventors

Justin P. Williams
Griffin S. Delancy

Assignees

COVIDIEN LP

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20240624

Claims (16)

1 . A surgical stapling apparatus, comprising: a shaft assembly extending longitudinally in proximal and distal directions; an end effector secured to a distal end portion of the shaft assembly; a firing assembly including a flexible knife bar assembly that is selectively advanceable through the end effector for firing the end effector; an articulation assembly including: a pivotable bar guide assembly having a proximal guide assembly and a distal guide assembly pivotably coupled together about a common axis and positioned to receive the flexible knife bar assembly, with the proximal guide assembly pivotably coupled to the shaft assembly, and the distal guide assembly pivotably coupled to the end effector; and an articulation link assembly coupled to the end effector, the articulation link assembly being actuatable to cause the end effector to move relative to the shaft assembly between an unarticulated position and an articulated position; and an articulation guide comprising at least one of a kicker cam or a detent mechanism and disposed in contacting relationship with the pivotable bar guide assembly to urge the pivotable bar guide assembly toward a predetermined direction of articulation.
2 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the pivotable bar guide assembly articulates in response to an actuation of the articulation link assembly.
3 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the articulation link assembly includes a proximal articulation link and a distal articulation link.
4 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the articulation guide includes the kicker cam, and wherein the kicker cam is configured to slide along an outer surface of the distal guide assembly.
5 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the outer surface of the distal guide assembly includes a side bulge, a recess, or combinations thereof that the kicker cam contacts to facilitate articulating movement of the distal guide assembly.
6 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the kicker cam has a rounded edge that extends in a direction toward the firing assembly.
7 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the rounded edge of the kicker cam is configured to cam axially along the pivotable bar guide assembly.
8 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the articulation guide comprises the detent mechanism with a detent disposed on the distal guide assembly.
9 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a mounting assembly securing the end effector to the shaft assembly, with the detent mechanism further including a detent bore disposed on the mounting assembly and receiving the detent when the end effector is in the unarticulated position.
10 . A surgical stapling apparatus, comprising: a housing assembly; an adapter assembly extending from the housing assembly; and a reload selectively attachable to the adapter assembly, the reload extending longitudinally between proximal and distal directions and supporting an end effector on a distal end portion of the reload, the reload including: a firing assembly including a flexible knife bar assembly that is selectively advanceable through the end effector for firing the end effector; a pivotable bar guide assembly having a proximal guide assembly pivotably coupled to a distal guide assembly and positioned to receive the flexible knife bar assembly; and an articulation link assembly coupled to the end effector, the articulation link assembly being actuatable to cause the end effector to move between an unarticulated position and an articulated position, the articulation link assembly including an articulation guide comprising a kicker cam that is movable relative to the pivotable bar guide assembly to urge the pivotable bar guide assembly toward a predetermined direction of articulation; wherein axial movement of the kicker cam in a first direction causes the pivotable bar guide assembly to articulate in a clockwise direction, and wherein axial movement of the kicker cam in a second direction causes the pivotable bar guide assembly to articulate in a counterclockwise direction; and wherein when the kicker cam moves distally, the distal guide assembly is configured to articulate in the same direction as the kicker cam.
11 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 10 , wherein when the kicker cam moves proximally to a predetermined location, the kicker cam is configured to articulate in the same direction as the distal guide assembly.
12 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 11 , wherein when the kicker cam moves proximally past the predetermined location, the kicker cam and the distal guide assembly are configured to articulate in different directions.
13 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 12 , wherein when the kicker cam moves distally, the proximal guide assembly and the kicker cam are configured to articulate in different directions.
14 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 13 , wherein when the kicker cam moves proximally to the predetermined location, the kicker cam and the proximal guide assembly are configured to articulate in different directions.
15 . The surgical stapling apparatus of claim 14 , wherein when the kicker cam moves proximally past the predetermined location, the kicker cam and the proximal guide assembly are configured to articulate in the same direction.
16 . A reload for a surgical stapling apparatus, the reload comprising: a shaft assembly extending longitudinally in proximal and distal directions; an end effector supporting a flexible knife bar assembly that is selectively advanceable through the end effector for firing the end effector; a pivotable bar guide assembly, comprising: a distal guide assembly having a vertically projecting boss; and a proximal guide assembly having a hoop with a boss opening receiving the boss; and an articulation link assembly coupled to the end effector and actuatable to cause the end effector to articulate between an unarticulated position and an articulated position, the articulation link assembly including an articulation guide that is movable relative to the pivotable bar guide assembly to articulate the pivotable bar guide assembly relative to or with the articulation guide.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/665,962, filed on Feb. 7, 2022, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/407,628, filed on Aug. 20, 2021, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,707,277, the entire contents of each of which are incorporated by reference herein. TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates to surgical stapling apparatus, devices and/or systems for performing surgical procedures and methods of use thereof. BACKGROUND Surgical stapling apparatus that clamp, cut and/or staple tissue are well known in the art. Such surgical stapling apparatus include end effectors having two elongated jaw members used to capture or clamp tissue. One of the two jaw members usually carries a staple cartridge that houses a plurality of staples positioned in rows, while the other of the two jaw members has an anvil for forming the staples as the staples are driven from the staple cartridge. For instance, in linear surgical stapling apparatus, a stapling operation is effectuated by a cam bar, a drive sled or other similar mechanism having a cam member that travels longitudinally through channels defined in the staple cartridge and acts upon staple pushers in the channels to sequentially eject linear rows of staples from the staple cartridge. A knife, often supported on a drive beam, is movably positioned between the linear rows of staples such that when the surgical stapling apparatus is positioned about tissue and actuated, the tissue is joined and/or simultaneously or nearly simultaneously cut. Some surgical stapling apparatus include reloads (sometimes referred to as loading units) and handle assemblies. The reloads may include articulatable end effectors with various articulation angles relative to the handle assemblies. With linear stapling, greater articulation is always desirable with a shorter dead space (e.g., distance from an articulation joint to where a staple line starts). To facilitate articulation, surgical stapling apparatus can include rotatable bar guides to guide knife bars. As the bar guides rotate when the jaw members are articulated, the bar guides can cause the knife bars to distally advance where the greater the articulation, the greater the distal advancement. Advancing of the drive beam requires increased dead space to provide for extra movement and/or require the articulation and drive beam travel to be timed together (e.g., simultaneous two motor movement). SUMMARY This disclosure details surgical stapling apparatus including a bar guide assembly that prevents bar buckling and maintains length during articulation such that a drive beam of the surgical stapling apparatus does not travel upon articulation. Advantageously, the bar guide assembly may be doubled hinged to enable increased articulation and mechanical articulation independent of drive beam travel. Further, the surgical stapling apparatus may include an articulation link with a guide ramp that reduces bend tightness and dead space. In particular, the guide ramp may enable the bar guide assembly to rotate outwardly before bending inwardly to provide a gradual bend. The associated bend path enables the drive beam to be positioned farther back than in stapling apparatus with standard bend paths, thereby providing shorter dead space. This bending movement maintains the drive beam length constant during articulation whereby the drive beam does not move forward during articulation. This bending movement enables articulation and linear drive to be independent of one another, for example, at least up to approximately 50 degrees of articulation relative to a central longitudinal axis of the surgical stapling apparatus. This disclosure also reduces the need for homing the surgical stapling apparatus after a loading unit is secured to the surgical stapling apparatus. In accordance with one aspect, this disclosure is directed to a surgical stapling apparatus that includes a shaft assembly, an end effector secured to the shaft assembly, a firing assembly, and an articulation assembly. The firing assembly includes a drive beam and a flexible knife bar assembly that are selectively advanceable through the end effector for firing the end effector. The articulation assembly has an articulation link assembly and a pivotable bar guide assembly. The articulation link assembly is coupled to the end effector and actuatable to cause the end effector to articulate relative to the shaft assembly. The pivotable bar guide assembly supports the flexible knife bar assembly and includes a proximal guide assembly and a distal guide assembly that are pivotably coupled together. The proximal guide assembly is pivotably coupled to the shaft assembly. The distal guide assembly is pivotably coupled to the end effector. In aspects, the pivotable bar guide may pivot in response to an actuation of articulation link assembly. The articulation link assembly may include a proximal arti