Surgical Instrument For Stitching Soft Tissues By Means Of Staples

Abstract

A surgical instrument for stitching soft tissues by means of staples in which the magazine for the staples is made in the form of a turning disk provided with circumferentially arranged slots for storing the staples and equipped with a mechanism for automatic rotation of the disk, thus providing for dependable delivery of the staples to the section of the tissue being stitched.

Description

The present invention relates to surgical instruments for stitching soft tissues by means of staples and preferably is intended primarily for applying cosmetic sutures onto skin.

Known in the prior art is a surgical instrument for stitching tissues by means of staples. In this instrument the lips of the tissues to be stitched are brought together and secured to the shoulders of a T-shaped lug with the aid of clamps movably connected to a body carrying a removable multicharge magazine having a staple-shaped slot containing a stick of staples which are packed close to each other. The staples are forced out of the slot by a pusher driven by a lever mechanism owing to which the staples pierce the lips of the tissues to be stitched and are bent in the recesses of the T-shaped lug.

A basic disadvantage of this instrument is that of an unreliable feed of the staples from the magazine to the tissues being stitched due to the wedging of the staples in the magazine slot, the guide grooves of the body or the guide grooves of the movable clamp being located indifferent planes and, therefore, requiring a high accuracy in the manufacture thereof. Furthermore any cocking of the staple legs on account of carelessness during charging of the staples as well as inaccuracy in the manufacture thereof also lead to their wedging in the magazine.

An object of the present invention is to eliminate the above mentioned disadvantages.

The principal object of the invention's is to provide a surgical instrument with a magazine ensuring dependable delivery of the staples and their easy charging. An advantageous feature of such an instrument consists in fast, reliable, and convenient stitching of butted lips of a tissue.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved by providing a surgical instrument for stitching soft tissues by means of staples comprising a body with a handle, a T-shaped lug for bending the staples, clamps for fixing the tissue lips to the shoulders of said lug, a magazine with staples and a staple pusher mounted thereon in which, according to the invention, the magazine is made in the form of a turning disk provided with circumferentially arranged slots for the staples, the magazine being capable of moving to and pressing against the tissue to be stitched.

The disk may be equipped with a mechanism for periodic turning through an angle equal to that between the staple slots made as a spring-loaded follower contacting the projections on the disk.

It is advisable to make the staple slots partly open at the face side of the disk and provide bevels on that side where the pusher enters the slots.

The pusher is preferably provided with a longitudinal slot receiving the end of the disk axle employed as a guide for the pusher. The disk may be secured to a slider coupled to the pusher through a resilient member, for example, a spring.

The nature of the present invention will become more fully apparent from a consideration of the following description of an exemplary embodiment taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the surgical instrument, according to the invention, for stitching tissues by means of staples shown in a partial cross section;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the instrument, according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the instrument, according to the invention, taken along the line III-III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a gearing diagram of the mechanism for turning the magazine, according to the invention;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line V-V of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged top view of the stitcher unit of the instrument, according to the invention, shown at the moment of stitching the tissue with a staple;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line VII-VII of FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 4 showing the rest or abutment for maintaining a space for the tissues to be stitched.

The surgical instrument for stitching soft tissues by means of staples consists of a body 1 (FIG. 1) with a handle 2; a T-shaped lug 3 (FIG. 1,2) rigidly connected to said body 1; clamps 4 and 5 for fixing the lips of the tissue being stitched to the shoulders of the lug 3; a magazine 6 with staples 7 (FIGS. 2, 6) and a pusher 8 for forcing out the staples 7 from the magazine 6.

The magazine 6 (FIG. 2) is made in the form of a turning disk with peripherally arranged slots 9 (FIG. 6, 7) accommodating staples 7.

The slots 9 are T-shaped in the cross section and open from above so that it is possible to see the backs on the staples charged into the slots (FIG. 6).

The magazine 6 (FIGS. 1, 5) is mounted on the axle 11 secured to a slider 12. A spring 13 with a follower 14 (FIG. 4) is mounted on the body 1 (FIG. 5) and acts upon the pins 15 of the magazine 6 during the reciprocating movement of the magazine. A trigger 16 with an arm 17 is movably mounted on an axle 18 arranged in the handle 2. A lever 19 is movably connected to the arm 17 through a pin 20, while the end 21 of the lever 19 is placed into the slot of the pusher 8. A retracting spring 22 connected with the lever 19 is installed in the handle 2.

The pusher 8 consists of a base 23 and a removable portion 24 (FIGS. 1,2), the latter being put on the axle 11 and on the pin 25 (FIGS. 2,3) secured to a base 23 (FIGS. 1,2) which mounts a cylindrical spring 26 and a bracket 27, the latter being in contact with the face of the slider 12.

Furthermore, the bracket 27 is slidable on the base 23 and maintained in position by the spring 26.

The clamps 4 and 5 are provided with springs 28, 29 and thumb pieces 30, 31.

The instrument operates as follows.

The pieces 30, 31 are depressed by a thumb with a simultaneous withdrawal of the clamps 4 and 5 from the lug 3. The shoulder of the T-shaped lug 3 is then placed under the lip of the tissue 32 (FIG. 6) to be stitched. The corresponding clamping pieces is the released thus fixing one lip of the tissue 32. The other lip of the tissue is fixed in a similar manner and the lips are butted. In this case the springs 28 and 29 (FIG. 1) bear upon the faces of the clamps 4 and 5 and prevent slipping of the clamps from the tissue. Then the trigger 16 is depressed with the forefinger. The trigger revolves together with the arm 17 and turns the lever 19 with the aid of the pin 20. In this case the end 21 of the lever 19 drives the pusher 8 towards the lug 3, while the clip or bracket 27 bears against the slider 12 which, together with the magazine 6, moves towards the lug 3 up to the rest or abutment 60, providing for a spacing between the lug 3 and the magazine 6 which spacing is necessary for stitching the tissues. The slider 12 stops upon engaging the abutment 60 and further pressure on the trigger 16 results in movement of the pusher 8 relative to magazine 6 and in the compression of spring 26.

The pusher 8 (FIG. 6) guided by the chamfers 10 enters the slot 9 and forces out the staple 7. The staple 7 pierces the lips of the tissue and is bent in the recess of the lug 3 so as to make one staple suture. Then the trigger 16 (FIG. 1) is released, and the retracting spring 22 restores the lever 19 with the pusher 8 and the slider 12 with the magazine 6 to their initial position. During the backward movement of the slider 12, the pin 15 of the magazine 6 bears against the follower 14 (FIGS. 4, 5) and rotates the magazine by an angle, corresponding to the central angle between the adjacent slots, up to the rest against the hook-shaped end of the follower 14. When the slider 12 with the magazine 6 moves towards the lug 3, the pin 15 presses the spring 13 with the follower 14. The springs goes down and the pin 15 together with the magazine 6 approaches the lug 3.

In order to remove the magazine 6 (FIGS. 1, 2) from the slider 12 the spring-loaded tail 33 of the removable unit 24 is lifted and turned by 90.degree., then the removable unit is withdrawn from the T-shaped head of the axle 11 by moving it upwards. Thereafter, the magazine 6 is easily removed from this axle. The magazine is installed in the reverse order: the magazine 6 is put on the axle 11, the removable unit 24 is installed thereabove and, when turned through 90.degree., is fixed to the base 23 through the pin 25.

The proposed instrument is advantageous in that the magazine ensures dependable delivery of the staples, whereas the mechanism for automatic turning of the magazine provides for fast and convenient suturing of tissues with staples. Furthermore, the staple slots are open from above so that the surgeon can check the quantity of the staples remaining in the magazine. This facilitates servicing of the instrument.

These advantages provide for rapid and convenient suturing the tissues under operation and this assists in the effective healing of the wound.

Through the present invention is described in connection with its preferred embodiment, it is obvious that there may be some variants and modifications thereof without departing from the idea and scope of the invention, which will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

These variants and modifications are understood to fall within the idea and scope of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

We claim:

1. A surgical instrument for stitching soft tissues by means of staples, said instrument comprising a body, a lug projecting from said body, clamp means slidably supported in said body and moveable toward and away from said lug for clamping said soft tissues therebetween, a staple magazine, a slider slidably supported in said body, said staple magazine being rotatably supported on said slider for rotation relative thereto, said magazine being substantially circular and having a plurality of slots circumferentially spaced therein through each of which slots is dischargeable a staple, said slider and thereby said staple magazine being movable toward said lug such that said magazine is engageable with said tissues, a staple pusher slidable in said body for discharging a staple from said magazine through said tissues into engagement with said lug, and drive means for driving said staple pusher.

2. A surgical instrument as claimed in claim 1 including an abutment fixed on said body and engageable by said slider for maintaining a minimum spacing between said magazine and said lug.

3. A surgical instrument as claimed in claim 1, including an axle fixed to said slider and upon which is rotatably supported said staple magazine, said staple pusher having a longitudinal slot embracing said axle to be guided thereby and for movement relative thereto.

4. A surgical instrument as claimed in claim 1, including a resilient member interposed between said staple pusher and said slider.

5. A surgical instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein the staple magazine includes means for periodically turning said disk through an angle equal to that between the slots for the staples, said last means being made in the form of a spring-loaded follower contacting the projections on the disk.

6. A surgical instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein the slots for the staples are partly open from the face side of the disk.

7. A surgical instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein the slots for the staples include guide bevels on that side where the pusher enters said slots.