Importance

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Abstract

An apparatus for clamping and cutting viscera in abdominal or thoracic cavities has an elongated tubular support for two toothed jaws which are pivoted to one end of the support. The latter can receive a prefabricated carriage with two needles and a length of thread connected to the rear ends of the needles. A sleeve is employed to close the jaws or to permit the jaws to open under spring bias, and a handle is provided to move a piston which is reciprocable in the support to expel the needles from the carriage, through a plug at the front end of the support and through channels in the jaws whose teeth define a zig-zag shaped clearance for a selected portion of a viscus. The needles are thereupon extracted from the jaws into a body cavity whereby the thread forms stitches which connect mutually inclined parts of the clamped portion of a viscus to each other before the needles are detached from and the thread is tightened around the selected portion of the viscus. A cutter can be detachably affixed to the piston to automatically sever the viscus at a desired distance from the clamped portion.

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First Claim