NEW POWERED VASCULAR STAPLER FROM ETHICON OFFERS GREATER PRECISION DURING THORACIC SURGERY

Ethicon has developed a new powered vascular stapler designed to provide greater precision and stability than currently available staplers for critical vessel transections. The new ECHELON FLEX™ Powered Vascular Stapler has the narrowest anvil of any stapler on the market an articulating shaft and advanced placement tip that may allow for better visibility, navigation and precise placement during thoracic and other procedures, including VATS lobectomy (Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery) for lung cancer.

Ethicon is launching the ECHELON FLEX Powered Vascular Stapler in the U.S. today here at the opening of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) 51st Annual Meeting in Booth 301, where the company is featuring its portfolio of products that span access, repair and closure, including the ECHELON FLEX™ GST SYSTEM and HARMONIC ACE®+7 Shears with Advanced Hemostasis which may be used in thoracic procedures. DePuy Synthes Companies will join Ethicon in the booth with thoracic products that complement the Ethicon portfolio.

ECHELON FLEX™ Powered Vascular Stapler

Compared to Endo GIA™ Curved Tip Reload with Tri-Staple™ Technology from the manufacturer Covidien, the ECHELON FLEX Powered Vascular Stapler has a curved, blunt anvil that is 26 percent narrower1 and a shaft that is 26 percent thinner offering the greatest angle of reach in the tight intercostal space. The new powered stapler also provides 11 percent greater manual articulation in each direction, allowing more flexibility during final placement than the competitor device.

In addition, the ECHELON FLEX Powered Vascular Stapler allows 83 percent reduction in tip movement during firing for less movement during transection. Due to proximity of vital structures and limited space during a thoracic procedure, increased stability is critically important.

In addition to the ECHELON FLEX Powered Vascular Stapler, Ethicon offers the ECHELON FLEX GST SYSTEM, a powered stapler and reload system uniquely designed to provide a better grip on tissue for the least tissue slippage during firing and the HARMONIC ACE®+7 Shears with Advanced Hemostasis, the first purely ultrasonic device with a 7 mm sealing indication. These devices are part of Ethicon''s procedural solution for thoracic surgery.