Patent ID: 8597182

Claim:
A minimally invasive surgical instrument, comprising: an elongate shaft; a wrist assembly coupled to a distal end of the elongate shaft; a retractor assembly coupled to the wrist assembly and adapted to be deployed inside a body organ of a patient, the retractor assembly comprising a pair of blades, each blade having a pulley portion including a circumferentially extending channel, a mounting end coupled to a pivot point in the wrist assembly, and an opposing free end with a planar body portion, including a planar surface, between the mounting end and the free end, the free end of each blade having a curved tip with an angle of curvature less than ninety degrees and extending in a similar direction at an obtuse angle relative to the planar body portion, wherein the pair of blades including the curved tips are substantially overlapped when in a closed position, and wherein an aperture extends into each one of the pair of blades, generally perpendicular to the planar surface; a pair of activation cables extending through the elongate shaft, each of said activation cables having a distal end portion, wherein a respective one of said activation cables is received in the circumferentially extending channel of each of the blades; and a pair of coupling members, wherein a respective one of the coupling members is received in the aperture of each blade to couple the distal end portions of the activation cables to the blades such that axial movement of one of the activation cables results in rotational movement of one of the blades relative to the other blade, about a pivot connection.