Maintaining Respect for Tissue

Respect for tissue is at the heart of everything we do at Ethicon. In the 19th century, Dr. William Halsted defined a set of interrelated principles for safe and effective surgery. He stressed the importance of hemostasis, adequate blood supply, and the gentle handling of tissue. It is these principles that help drive our approach to developing advanced surgical devices.

Those principles haven't changed. However, with the evolution of surgery, techniques of interacting with tissue have become more complex. For these reasons, we at Ethicon are constantly working to deepen the understanding of living tissue dynamics, and to design our devices to help surgeons reduce trauma associated with their use.

Understanding the Role of Compression

Compression is a critical factor in successful surgical stapling. Prior to stapling, applying compression over time exudes fluid from tissue, which helps ensure a more consistent thickness in the targeted tissue. After tissue is compressed, it is ready to accommodate a securely closed staple. Proper staple formation is necessary to achieve a leak-proof and hemostatic staple line.

Understanding Tissue Properties

At Ethicon, understanding the properties of living tissue is fundamental to our approach to surgical stapling. Our staplers are uniquely designed to work with the properties of tissue to prepare it for staples.

Surgical stapling devices must deliver optimal tissue compression to achieve proper staple formation and successful clinical outcomes

Achieving Optimal Compression

When it comes to comes to compression, as illustrated below, it is important to apply enough pressure to achieve good hemostasis and a leak-free anastomosis. However, it is also necessary to maintain control of the applied pressure to avoid potential injury to the tissue.

Our Approach to Compression

Ethicon devices apply precompression, which exudes fluid from tissue prior to firing to create a smooth stapling surface. This helps ensure that staples form properly, which in turn contributes to optimal compression.

With Ethicon devices, living tissue is compressed to adequate thickness before stapling to achieve optimal mechanical stapling effectiveness

Importance of Stability

Surgeons seek to minimize movement of endoscopic stapling devices during transection to protect targeted and surrounding fragile organs and tissue. Particularly when firing on thick tissue or at awkward angles, maintaining a steady firing can be challenging. Because of this, Ethicon has developed the Powered ECHELON FLEX ENDOPATH Stapler combining a smooth, consistent firing stroke with virtually effortless firing to maintain stability at the tip. This reduced force to fire leads to less movement of the tip on or near vital structures during transaction, potentially resulting in less trauma.