Patent ID: 7090684

Claim:
A method for stapling tissue comprising the steps of: inserting into a patients mouth a flexible endoscope device including an operative head having a pair of opposed, curved tissue clamping jaws, a first one of the curved jaws including a stapling mechanism and a second one of the jaws including a staple forming anvil surface; moving the jaws relative to one another from a closed position to an open tissue receiving position; drawing a folded, full-thickness portion of tissue from one of the patient's stomach and esophagus between the jaws; actuating a first jaw moving mechanism to move the jaws from the open position toward the closed position; actuating a second jaw moving mechanism to finely adjust the position of the jaws relative to one another to clamp the tissue between staple slots formed in the first jaw through which staples are fired by the stapling mechanism and the staple forming surface, wherein the staple slots are arranged in a row extending from a proximal end of the first jaw to a distal end thereof; and actuating the stapling mechanism to drive staples out of the staple slots through the tissue and against the staple forming surface to couple the folds of tissue to one another.