Patent ID: 8360299

Claim:
A surgical stapling apparatus, comprising: a housing having an actuator; an elongated member extending from the housing; an end effector disposed on one end of the elongated member, the end effector including first and second jaw members; a plurality of fasteners disposed in fastener-retaining slots of the first jaw member and being engageable with fastener-forming pockets defined in the second jaw member to form at least one of the plurality of fasteners upon a firing of the surgical stapling apparatus; a plurality of pusher members located in the first jaw member, each pusher member of the plurality of pusher members operatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of fasteners; an actuation mechanism operatively coupled to the actuator, the actuation mechanism including a longitudinally translatable drive member and an actuation sled coupled thereto, the actuation sled being engageable with the plurality of pusher members to engage the plurality of fasteners with the fastener-forming pockets of the second jaw member; a pressure responsive element disposed on the second jaw member, the pressure responsive element communicating a signal to a controller coupled to the surgical stapling apparatus, the signal representative of pressure applied to the pressure responsive element.