Covidien announces limited release of Endo GIA curved tip and black reloads with Tri-Staple technology

Covidien (NYSE: COV), a leading global provider of healthcare products, today announced that its new Endo GIA™ curved tip and black reloads with Tri-Staple™ technology are available in limited release with a full U.S. roll out expected by mid-year.

“Covidien worked closely with members of the surgical community to develop new stapling technologies that answer surgeons' needs from a clinical perspective”

The Endo GIA curved tip and black reloads are among the latest Covidien innovations on display at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Annual Meeting, being held here through February 2.

The curved tip reload is the first and only surgical stapling device that features a curved tip for improved maneuverability around hard-to-reach tissues and vessels. It also offers blunt dissection during minimally invasive procedures such as video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) to remove a portion of the lung. The black reload enables surgeons to consistently staple in extra thick tissue applications that previously were beyond the indications of any minimally invasive stapler.

"Navigating around the delicate pulmonary artery can be the source of a great deal of stress when performing minimally invasive lung surgery," said Thomas Fabian, M.D., FCCP, Section Chief of Thoracic Surgery within the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Albany Medical Center. "The curved tip reload allows me to more easily maneuver around the pulmonary artery, see the tissue I'm planning to transect and ultimately do things that I couldn't do before."

In addition to improved visibility and maneuverability, the curved tip offers other features to improve ease of use. A radiopaque flexible introducer can be mounted onto the tip, which may help guide the fixed anvil under the vessel/tissue that is to be transected. Additionally, the atraumatic curved tip can be used for blunt dissection and to manipulate tissues while positioning the reload before firing.

The black reload is designed to comfortably compress tissues that are up to 50% thicker than the tissues that could be compressed with previous-generation staplers, including the Endo GIA™ Universal green reload and Ethicon's Echelon and Echelon Flex™ green reload. This first-in-market black reload provides a smooth firing force through tissues that range in thickness from 2.25 mm to 3 mm.

"Covidien worked closely with members of the surgical community to develop new stapling technologies that answer surgeons' needs from a clinical perspective," said Richard Toselli, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Surgical Devices, Covidien. "The curved tip and black reloads represent a major step forward in surgical stapling innovation, enabling surgeons to perform minimally invasive surgical techniques with superior ergonomics, compared to traditional staplers."

Both the curved tip and black reloads feature Tri-Staple technology and work with Covidien's current Endo GIA Universal stapler. They also work with the new Endo GIA Ultra Universal stapler, which combines an ergonomic design, precise articulation and one-handed grasping for increased versatility. Reloads featuring Tri-Staple technology provide outstanding performance across a broader range of tissue thicknesses, thereby simplifying the reload selection process. Key features include a fixed anvil, a stepped cartridge face, three varied staple heights, enhanced tissue compression and a stronger knife blade.