Patent ID: 9370362
Filing Date: 2016-06-21
CPC Classification: A61B,A61F

Claim Text:
1. A surgical stapler, comprising: a stapler head having an internal anvil surface and opposed first and second elongate jaws with opposing proximal and distal end portions; a staple cartridge held in at least one of the first and second jaws, the stapler cartridge configured to concurrently deliver staples from a plurality of parallel rows of staples from a length of the cartridge; and a tissue protection segment held in a proximal portion of at least one of the first and second jaws, longitudinally aligned with the anvil and/or staple cartridge, wherein, the jaws are configured to close against target tissue and, at stapler firing, staples are delivered to a subset of tissue held inside the jaws so that tissue held by the tissue protection segment adjacent the proximal end portion of the stapler is not stapled, and wherein the tissue protection segment comprises at least one of: (a) an interior facing recess in at least one of the first and second jaws configured to inhibit tissue crushing for tissue held thereat when the jaws close; and (b) at least one resilient member configured to translate outward away from clamped tissue when the jaws close against tissue to thereby inhibit tissue crushing for tissue held thereat when the jaws close.