CUPERTINO, Calif., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Novare Surgical Systems Inc., today announced that it has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trade mark Office for the company’s patent application (No. 10/444,769) covering technology for its broad family of EndoLink(TM) products, including the first single-use handheld surgical instrument featuring six degrees of articulating freedom. Comprised of grasper, dissector, needle driver and scissors, the novel instruments are used in laparoscopic surgery to enable minimally invasive approaches in gastric bypass, cardiac bypass, pulmonary lobectomy and other general and urologic procedures.
According to Kerry Pope, Novare’s president and chief executive officer, surgeons in many specialties are embracing the EndoLink system because it offers them enhanced anatomical access and control not available with traditional, straight laparo scopic instruments. “The EndoLink system can be incorporated into instruments as small as 3 millimeters and catheters as small as 3 French, giving surgeons a new generation of devices that will enable them to make new advances in minimally invasive surgery.”
Camran Nezhat, M.D., a renowned surgeon at the Center for Special Minimally Invasive Surgery and the Stanford University Medical School, said, “Minimal access surgery will replace almost all large incision procedures. The limiting factors for the surgeon are skill and experience and the availability of proper instrumentation. Novare has solved the instrumentation problem by developing a clever instrument that makes manipulation extremely easy.”
EndoLink
Unlike traditional endoscopic instruments that feature four degrees of freedom -- up/down, left/right, rotation, and in/out actuation -- EndoLink instruments also feature the ability to move the wrist left/right and up/down. The additional two degrees of freedom enables a whole new class of minimally invasive procedures, and can significantly reduce the complexity and shorten the learning curve of a number of existing high-volume minimally invasive procedures.
Dave Danitz, vice president of engineering and the inventor of EndoLink added, “This important patent provides protection for a simple mechanism that enables intuitive control of articulation in many degrees of freedom. The mechanism is being integrated into a wide variety of articulating medical devices that our customers say will usher in a new era in minimally invasive surgery.”
About Novare Surgical Systems
Based in Cupertino, Calif., Novare Surgical Systems Inc. was founded in 1999 to develop, manufacture and market proprietary devices for minimally invasive and traditional surgical procedures. The company has commercialized the Intrack(R) family of atraumatic occlusion devices, which includes the Engage(R), Cygnet(R), Novaclip(R) and Greyhound(R) product lines. Enclose(R), an assist device for multiple proximal anasto moses in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery, was introduced in 2002. For more information, visit the company’s web site at http://www.novaresurgical.com .
Novare Surgical Systems Inc.
CONTACT: Kerry Pope, President & CEO of Novare Surgical Systems Inc.,+1-408-350-9912, or kpope@novaresurgical.com; or Charles Versaggi, Ph.D. ofVersaggi Biocommunications, +1-415-397-3087, or cv@versaggibio.com, forNovare Surgical Systems Inc.
Web site: http://www.novaresurgical.com/
