A surgical instrument includes an ultrasonic waveguide extending through a body assembly. An ultrasonic blade connects to the ultrasonic waveguide. A clamp arm assembly of the surgical instrument is able to move from an opened position for receiving a tissue toward a closed position for clamping the tissue. The clamp arm assembly includes a clamp body and a clamp pad facing the ultrasonic blade. A clamp arm actuator of the surgical instrument is able to move from a first position toward a second position to direct the clamp arm assembly from the opened position toward the closed position. A modular coupling of the surgical instrument connects to the clamp pad such that at least the clamp pad can be disconnected relative to the ultrasonic blade for replacement thereof.

A treatment tool includes: a pair of grippers configured to grip living tissue, at least one of the pair of grippers being configured in an openable and closable manner; a transmission portion connected to the at least one of the pair of grippers, the transmission portion being configured to move forward and backward along a first direction to open and close the pair of grippers; an operating portion configured to receive user operation for gripping the living tissue; an elastic body configured to transmit, to the transmission portion, an operating force applied to the operating portion by the user operation while being compressively deformed in accordance with the operating force; and an adjustment mechanism configured to adjust an amount of compressive deformation of the elastic body when the user operation is performed on the operating portion, to thereby adjust a gripping force of the pair of grippers.

A surgical instrument end effector assembly includes a first jaw member defining an insulative tissue-contacting surface and first and second electrically-conductive tissue-contacting surfaces disposed on either side of the insulative tissue-contacting surface. A second jaw member includes an ultrasonic blade body positioned to oppose the insulative tissue-contacting surface of the first jaw member. The first jaw member is movable relative to the second jaw member between a spaced-apart position and an approximated position to apply a first grasping force to tissue disposed therebetween. A slider is movable, independent of the first jaw member, between a retracted position, wherein the slider is disposed proximally of the first and second jaw members, and an extended position, wherein the slider extends about the first jaw member and urges the first jaw member from the approximated position further towards the second jaw member to apply a second, greater grasping force to tissue.

A dermatome blade assembly having at least two blades, each including a cutting edge, a rear edge spaced from the cutting edge, and two side edges joining the cutting edge and the rear edge. At least one of the blades has at least one throughgoing aperture, and a blade carrier including a main body extending in a transverse direction and means for connecting each of the at least two blades to the blade carrier. The blade carrier comprises a recess arranged to receive a drive pin of a dermatome such that oscillating motion of the drive pin causes reciprocating motion of the dermatome blade assembly.

A vibrating tissue separator suitable for use in separating a lenticule established by a femtosecond laser during a smile procedure may include a surgical implement such as a blunt spatula mounted on a handle that carries a haptic actuator for applying vibratory motion to the surgical implement. A damping arrangement may be provided to isolate the surgeons hand from the vibrations which would otherwise be transmitted through the handle. The actuator may apply a linear vibration along the axis of the handle which applies a lifting and chopping motion to the tip of a surgical implement having a bend. The tip may be suitable to the tissue being separated. For example, for SMILE lenticule separation, a blunt or semi-sharp spatula, blunted wire or loop may be used. The direction of vibration at the tip may be changed by rotating the implement in a plane other than the plane of the bend or by rotating an actuator such as an LRA with respect to the handle.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of medical devices. In particular, the present disclosure relates to endoscopic medical devices with distally actuated axial displacement configured to impart in-plane or rotational ultrasonic reciprocation to an end effector.

An ultrasonic tip and methods of operating the same. The ultrasonic tip comprises a shaft including a base and a flexible body. The body comprises a first portion and a second portion. The body is coupled to the base at the first portion and extends from the first portion to the second portion along a longitudinal axis. The second portion includes a cutting portion comprising a neck, and a head extending radially from the longitudinal axis. The head is coupled to the neck. A circular aperture is disposed between the head and the neck to define an inner circumferential surface. The head and the neck form an outer circumferential surface comprising a plurality of cutting teeth, the outer circumferential surface having a first thickness at the head that is greater than a second thickness at the neck.

In a surgical method, an elongate probe is inserted into a spinal disc exemplarily into a nucleus pulposus thereof in a direction generally parallel to vertebral end faces adjacent to the spinal disc. During the inserting of the elongate probe, the probe is ultrasonically vibrated. Thereafter, while ultrasonically vibrating the elongate probe, one moves the elongate probe to sever a prismatic portion of the spinal disc including a prismatic section of the nucleus pulposus. The prismatic portion of the spinal disc is removed from a remaining portion of the spinal disc.

A method of fabricating an ultrasonic medical device is presented. The method includes machining a surgical tool from a flat metal stock, contacting a face of a first transducer with a first face of the surgical tool, and contacting a face of a second transducer with an opposing face of the surgical tool opposite the first transducer. The first and second transducers are configured to operate in a D31 mode with respect to the longitudinal portion of the surgical tool. Upon activation, the first transducer and the second transducer are configured to induce a standing wave in the surgical tool and the induced standing wave comprises a node at a node location in the surgical tool and an antinode at an antinode location in the surgical tool.

A surgical instrument that may include a housing, a transducer engaged with the housing which can produce vibrations, and an end-effector engaged with the transducer. The surgical instrument can further include an adjustable sheath extending from the housing where the sheath is movable relative to the distal tip of the end-effector and where the distance between the distal tip of the sheath and the distal tip of the end-effector can be set such that the sheath can act as a depth stop. The sheath can be adjusted such that, when the distal tip of the sheath contacts the tissue or bone being incised, the surgeon can determine that the appropriate depth of the incision has been reached. In other embodiments, the end-effector can be moved with respect to the sheath in order to adjust the distance between the distal tip of the end-effector and the distal tip of the sheath.