Patent ID: 11931029
Assignee: CILAG GMBH INTERNATIONAL
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC A | IPC A

Claim 15:
16. A surgical instrument, comprising:
(a) a body;
(b) a shaft extending distally from the body;
(c) a motor configured to couple with a power source;
(d) a firing assembly coupled with the motor;
(e) an end effector operatively coupled with the shaft, wherein the motor is activatable to actuate the firing assembly of the surgical instrument through a firing stroke to staple and sever tissue with the end effector; and
(f) a control circuit operatively coupled with the motor and comprising one or more strain gauges operatively coupled with a portion of the firing assembly and configured to measure an applied stress experienced by the firing assembly during a firing stroke,
wherein the control circuit is configured to determine a cumulative applied stress experienced by the firing assembly over the course of multiple firing strokes,
wherein, responsive to the cumulative applied stress reaching or exceeding a predetermined threshold, the control circuit is further configured to initiate at least one of:
(i) providing a notification to a user, or
(ii) disabling the firing assembly.