abstract |
A surgical instrument for ligating and cutting body tissue restrained in the instrument is disclosed. To ligate the tissue, the instrument applies a pair of plastic clips at spaced apart locations on the tissue. The clips are advanced towards the tissue and separated from a pair of clip trains by a clip pusher mechanism operating over a predetermined path. A knife operating over another predetermined path then cuts the tissue between the spaced apart clips. A safety mechanism is actuated by the clip pusher mechanism in the event that a clip is not presented to the pusher mechanism. The safety mechanism, when actuated by the pusher mechanism, directly blocks the path of the knife. A latch mechanism is provided which locks tissue in the instrument to alert the surgeon that the pusher mechanism has jammed at the completion of a ligating and cutting operation. |