Patent ID: 11969187
Assignee: NICO CORPORATION
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 6:
7. A surgical access assembly for creating an operative pathway through body tissue, comprising:
an outer sheath defined by an open distal end and an open proximal end and including a hollow body portion therebetween configured to receive surgical instruments,
an imaging device arranged at the proximal end of the outer sheath and configured to maintain a fixed distal and coaxial position relative to the distal end of the outer sheath to provide an image of the area of interest,
an obturator defined by a distal end and a proximal end, wherein the distal end further comprises a tapered distal tip member that terminates in a closed distal tip for atraumatically dilating tissue at an area of interest, and wherein the obturator is selectively removable from the outer sheath in order to provide line of sight for the imaging device to the area of interest; and
a holding arrangement maintained at the proximal end of the outer sheath and configured to maintain the imaging device at the fixed distal and coaxial position relative to the distal end of the outer sheath, wherein the holding arrangement includes a reinforcement section configured to extend at least partially around the imaging device to maintain the imaging device at the fixed distance relative to the distal end of the outer sheath.