A device includes an anoscope including an elongated hollow member with a longitudinal slot configured to receive tissue in an interior of the hollow member. The device also includes a clip applicator. The clip applicator includes a body slidably received in the slot and jaws at a distal end of the body configured to hold a ligation clip. The clip applicator further includes a plunger slidably coupled to the body configured to actuate the jaws. When the clip applicator is inserted into the slot and the plunger is moved relative to the body, the jaws close and deform the ligation clip from an open position into a closed position around tissue received in the slot.

A method comprises grasping material between a pair of jaw members of a medical instrument; sensing light transmitted from the material grasped between the pair of jaw members to a location exterior to the pair of jaw members; and altering a grasping force exerted by the pair of jaw members on the material being grasped based on the sensing of the light transmitted.

An endoscopic surgical instrument includes a main body assembly, and a cannula having a lumen and formed with a slot. An inner tube, which houses a spring-biased retractable cutting blade assembly having a cutting blade, is mounted on one end of the main body assembly and extends axially therefrom. The tube is receivable within the lumen of the cannula, and may be particularly oriented within the cannula lumen such that the cutting blade may be caused to project from both the tube and the cannula slot. The inner tube has a bore in which the distal end of an endoscope may be received. The instrument may be locked in one position to allow the endoscope to engage the blade assembly and cause the cutting blade to project from the cannula slot during a tissue cutting procedure, or may be locked in another position wherein the cutting blade remains retracted.

An endoscopic surgical instrument includes a front slide, a scope coupler mounted on the front slide, a hammer pivotally mounted on the front slide, a cannula having a lumen and formed with a slot, a sleeve mounted to partially rotate on a portion of the cannula, a blade tube and a retractable cutting blade assembly having a cutting blade situated within the blade tube. The blade tube extends axially from the front slide. The tube is received by the lumen of the cannula. The blade tube has a bore in which the distal end of an endoscope may be received. The instrument may be locked in one position to allow the tip of the endoscope to engage the blade assembly and cause the cutting blade to project from the cannula slot during a tissue cutting procedure, or may be locked in another position wherein the cutting blade remains retracted.

A modularly structured lid for a sterile container includes a lid component, which has at least one gas exchange portion, on which, on the inner side of a lid, at least one filter device can be arranged, and at least one filter covering by which the at least one gas exchange portion can be completely covered on an outside of the lid. The lid component has at least one standardized clip receiving portion and the filter covering has at least one standardized clip portion, by which the filter covering and the lid component can be interlockingly fixed to each other, and can be mounted and removed without tools. A sterile container can include such a lid and a filter covering for such a lid.

A surgical access device including a cannula body, a fixation mechanism, and an illumination mechanism is disclosed. The fixation mechanism includes a collar, a sleeve, an expandable member, and a distal ring. The illumination mechanism includes at least one light disposed on the expandable member, and a switch. Distal translation of the collar relative to an elongated portion of the cannula body causes the expandable member to move from a first position defining a first gap between a mid-portion of the expandable member and the elongated portion of the cannula body, to a second position defining a second gap between the mid-portion of the expandable member and the elongated portion of the cannula body, the second gap being greater than the first gap.

A system for manufacturing elastomeric components is provided. The system may include a molding station having a mold configured to receive an elastomeric material, form a pad that includes a plurality of untrimmed elastomeric components, and cure the pad. The system may further include an automated marking station comprising a laser and a camera. The automated marking station may be configured to remove the cured pad from the molding station, present the cured pad to the laser to form a mark on each of the untrimmed elastomeric components, and present the cured pad to the camera to capture an image of each mark. A process for manufacturing the elastomeric components is also provided.

A deployment tool and associated method are disclosed for implanting a vascular connector in a patient. The vascular connector deployment tool has a housing, an inner sheath extending distally from the housing, a floating mandrel, a vascular connector disposed coaxially about the mandrel, and an outer sheath telescopically deployed over an inner sheath. The outer sheath constrains the vascular connector around the mandrel in an insertion profile when the outer sheath is disposed over the vascular connector. The inner sheath may be rotated to cause the outer sheath to retract relative to the floating mandrel and expose sequential portions of the vascular connector. A drive disposed within the housing and coupled to a proximal end of the outer sheath translates rotational motion of the inner sheath into longitudinal motion of the outer sheath.

A side-firing laser system with a standoff catheter includes an optical fiber configured to emit therapeutic laser radiation in a direction generally transverse to an axis of the fiber; and a catheter through which the optical fiber is inserted during a surgical procedure. The catheter includes a transparent end section through which the therapeutic laser radiation passes to vaporize tissue outside the catheter, an open distal end to permit exit of irrigation fluid from the catheter, and an opening in a side of the end section, the opening having dimensions that are approximately equal to or less than cross-sectional dimensions of the therapeutic laser radiation. When the fiber is moved to a position at which the therapeutic laser radiation passes through the opening, the laser radiation causes coagulation or vaporization of tissues.

A clipping system includes a pusher element, a holder mounted over an insertion device and clips stacked along a length of the holder. The holder includes a longitudinally channel.

Each clip extends along a curvature defining a tissue-receiving space therewithin and extends about the holder with an exterior surface of the holder holding the clip open with the first and second ends of the clip separated from one another to receive a tissue therein. Each clip is independently deployable from the holder so that, upon release of the clip from the holder, the clip reverts to a closed configuration. In the closed configuration, the first and second ends are moved toward one another to reduce a size of the tissue-receiving space so that tissue is gripped therewithin. The element is mounted over the holder and moved distally along the holder to independently deploy each clips.

Systems and methods for delivering a device for regulating blood pressure between a patient's left atrium and right atrium are provided. The delivery apparatus may include a first catheter, a hub having one or more engagers disposed thereon configured to releasably engage with a first expandable end of the shunt in a contracted delivery state within a lumen of a sheath, and a second catheter extending through a center lumen of the first catheter and the hub, wherein the first catheter, the hub, and the second catheter are independently moveable relative to the sheath. The inventive devices may reduce left atrial pressure and left ventricular end diastolic pressure, and may increase cardiac output, increase ejection fraction, relieve pulmonary congestion, and lower pulmonary artery pressure, among other benefits. The inventive devices may be used, for example, to treat subjects having heart failure, pulmonary congestion, or myocardial infarction, among other pathologies.