US Patent 7510107 Cable driven surgical stapling and cutting instrument with apparatus for preventing inadvertent cable disengagement

A cable driven surgical instrument that has an elongate channel assembly that is constructed to operably support a staple cartridge assembly therein. The instrument may have a knife assembly that is oriented for travel within the elongate channel assembly and at least one cable transition support that is operably mounted to at least one of the elongate channel assembly and the knife assembly. A drive cable operably extends around at least a portion of the cable transition support and interfaces with a cable drive system to drive the knife assembly within the elongate channel. A cable retention arrangement may be included for retaining the drive cable around at least a portion of the cable transition support.