ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 10 -- United States Patent no. 12,408,944, issued on Sept. 9, was assigned to Covidien LP (Mansfield, Mass.).
"Cannula assembly including a suction cup seal" was invented by Christopher A. Tokarz (Torrington, Conn.), Douglas M. Pattison (East Hartford, Conn.), Kevin M. Desjardin (Prospect, Conn.), Astley C. Lobo (West Haven, Conn.) and Satish Gundala (Hyderabad, India).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A cannula assembly is utilized during a minimally invasive surgery to provide sealed access of a surgical instrument to an insufflated body cavity. The cannula assembly includes a cannula sleeve and a suction cup that is adjustably positionable on the cannula sleeve. The suct...