Methods of reprocessing a surgical instrument

Inventors

Seiger, Jason • McDonald, Brooke • Ferentheil, Nicholas • Butters, Nathan • Forker, Charles A. • Jain, Sachin

Assignees

Stryker Sustainability Solutions Inc

Abstract

A method of reprocessing a surgical instrument that includes a handpiece having opposed shells secured together with a fastener, a shroud secured to the handpiece and overlaying the fastener and a portion of the handpiece, an outer shaft extending from the shroud and defining a cutting window, and a cutting shaft movable within the outer shaft and including a cutting tip for resecting tissue within the cutting window is disclosed. The method includes mutilating the shroud so as to remove the shroud from the handpiece, removing the fastener, separating the opposed shells to access an interior of the handpiece, servicing or replacing at least one component within the interior of the handpiece, securing the opposed shells to one another with the fastener or another fastener, and securing a replacement shroud to the handpiece.

Core Innovation

The invention relates to a method of reprocessing a surgical instrument including a handpiece with opposed shells secured together with a fastener and a shroud secured to the handpiece and overlaying the fastener and a portion of the handpiece. The handpiece includes an outer shaft defining a cutting window and a cutting shaft movable within the outer shaft including a cutting tip for resecting tissue within the cutting window. The method includes securing the surgical instrument to a fixture and removing the shroud from the handpiece by a process which includes milling the shroud.

The method further includes removing the fastener, separating the opposed shells to access an interior of the handpiece, and servicing or replacing at least one component within the interior of the handpiece. The opposed shells are then secured to one another with the fastener or another fastener. A replacement shroud is secured to the handpiece, including embodiments where the shroud replacement is secured to a milled surface and, in some cases, where adhesive is used to secure the replacement shroud to the milled surface.

In additional embodiments, the method includes milling a portion of the opposed shells to provide a milled surface and securing the replacement shroud to the milled surface, where the shroud is formed from a first material and the replacement shroud is formed from a second material different than the first material. The described reprocessing can also include servicing or replacing specific components within the interior of the handpiece, such as a cutting tip, a cutting shaft, a suction tubing assembly, and a flexible drive cable, along with reprocessing of instrument orientation indicia and updating indicia with an offset relative to original indicia under a predetermined threshold.

Claims Coverage

The partial content provides three independent claims (clm-00001, clm-00014, clm-00017). Across these claims, the inventive subject matter is concentrated on fixture-based milling removal of a shroud, milling creation of a milled surface on opposed shells/handpiece, servicing or replacing interior components as part of reprocessing, and securing a replacement shroud to the milled surface with a material difference between original and replacement shrouds.

The independent claims cover a reprocessing/replacement workflow that uses fixture-based securing, milling to remove a shroud, milling to form a milled surface on opposed shells, servicing or replacing interior components during reprocessing, and securing a replacement shroud to the milled surface, with the replacement shroud formed from a different material than the original shroud.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications