Patent ID: 9492167
Filing Date: 2016-11-15
CPC Classification: A61B

Claim Text:
1. A surgical device, comprising: an elongate shaft operably coupled to an actuator arrangement, the elongate shaft defining a shaft axis and including a flexible shaft portion; a flexible rotary drive member operably supported by the elongate shaft and defining a rotary drive axis, said flexible rotary drive member operably interfacing with a source of rotary actuation motions to selectively rotate said flexible rotary drive member about said rotary drive axis; a surgical end effector operably coupled to a distal end of the elongate shaft, the surgical end effector comprising a tissue cutting member interfacing with the flexible rotary drive member and being movable within the end effector in response to an application of said rotary actuation motions to the flexible rotary drive member such that rotation of said flexible rotary drive member about said rotary drive axis in a first rotary direction causes said tissue cutting member to move in a distal direction from a proximal starting position toward a distal ending position and rotation of said rotary drive member about said rotary drive axis in a second rotary direction causes said tissue cutting member to move in a proximal direction from said distal ending position toward said proximal starting position; and a plurality of flexible actuators operably interfacing with the flexible shaft portion such that selective actuation thereof causes articulation of the end effector relative to the shaft axis.