Combined vessel dissection and transection device and method

(54) COMBINED VESSEL DISSECTION AND TRANSECTION DEVICE AND METHOD

(75) Inventors: John P. Lunsford, San Carlos, CA

(US); Charles J. Adam, San Jose, CA
(US); John W. Davis, Mountain View,
CA (US); Albert K. Chin, Palo Alto,
CA (US)

(73) Assignee: Origin Medsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US)

( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

(21) Appl. No.: 10/218,475

(22) Filed: Aug. 12, 2002

(65) Prior Publication Data

US 2003/0032861 Al Feb. 13, 2003

Related U.S. Application Data

(63) Continuation of application No. 09/490,552, filed on Jan. 25, 2000, now Pat. No. 6,432,044, which is a continuation of application No. 09/227,393, filed on Jan. 8, 1999, now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of application No. 09/102,723, filed on Jun. 22, 1998, now Pat. No. 5,895,353.

(51) Int. CI.7 A61B 17/32

(52) U.S. CI 600/129; 600/127

(58) Field of Search 600/127, 128,

600/129, 130, 104, 114

A retractor and a surgical tool are positioned within a cannula, and a dissection cradle of the retractor is positioned at the distal end of the cannula. The retractor includes a first portion with an axis approximately parallel to the axis of the cannula and a second portion with an axis skewed relative to the axis of the cannula. The dissection cradle is located at the distal end of the second portion of the retractor, and may include two substantially parallel, spaced legs with the retractor shaped in a loop between and in a plane skewed relative to the axes of the legs, and with the loop directed away from the surgical tool. Thus, in operation, when the surgeon locates a vessel and side branch of interest, the surgeon extends the retractor to cradle the vessel in the dissection cradle. Once cradled, the retractor may be fully extended to urge the vessel away from the axis of the cannula to isolate the side branch for exposure to the surgical tool. Removable, transparent tips are selectively positioned at the distal end of the cannula for performing dissection and transection via a single cannula. Additionally, the tips are configured to align the apices of the tips with the central axis of the endoscope to maximize the visual field through the tips via the endoscope. Wing-like protrusions on an alternate tip for the cannula facilitate tissue dissection in forming a tunnel in tissue along a target vessel. Swept back forward edges on the wing-like protrusions promote easy tissue dissection using reduced force to advance the cannula and alternate tip through tissue surrounding the target vessel.

18 Claims, 16 Drawing Sheets