Patent ID: 8613384

Claim:
A surgical stapling instrument comprising: a frame having a body portion ( 22 ) and a handle ( 26 ), a staple fastening assembly ( 1 , 5 ; 24 ) in the distal region of said instrument, the staple fastening assembly ( 1 , 5 ; 24 ) including a cartridge device ( 5 ; 30 ) which comprises at least one row of staples ( 72 , 77 ) and a generally wavy first tissue interface ( 34 ), and an anvil ( 1 ; 32 ) which is movable relative to the cartridge device ( 5 ; 30 ) and having a generally wavy second tissue interface ( 36 ) adapted to cooperate with the first tissue interface ( 34 ) of the cartridge device ( 5 ; 30 ) for clamping tissue therebetween and forming the ends ( 74 ) of the staples ( 72 , 77 ) exiting from the cartridge device ( 5 ; 30 ), a moving device adapted to move the anvil ( 1 ; 32 ) relative to the cartridge device ( 5 ; 30 ), a staple driving device ( 60 ; 90 ) adapted to drive all the staples ( 72 , 77 ) in a same staple driving direction out of the cartridge device ( 5 ; 30 ) towards the anvil ( 1 ; 32 ), wherein the staples comprise non-symmetrical U-shaped staples ( 77 ) having two legs ( 78 ) with free pointed ends ( 74 ) extending in a longitudinal direction ( 81 ) and facing toward the anvil ( 1 ; 32 ) and a transverse basis ( 79 ) connecting the legs ( 78 ), wherein said basis ( 79 ) is inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction ( 81 ), such that the basis ( 79 ) has a length greater than an orthogonal projection of the basis on a plane ( 80 ) perpendicular to the longitudinal direction ( 81 ) of the legs ( 78 ), wherein said non-symmetrical staples are arranged in the cartridge device such that: the longitudinal direction of the legs of the non-symmetrical staples is parallel to the staple driving direction, and the inclined basis of each of said non-symmetrical staples is substantially parallel to a corresponding portion of the first tissue interface through which the non-symmetrical staple is expellable by the staple driving device, said portion of the first tissue interface being non-orthogonal to said staple driving direction.