Patent attributes
An exemplary surgical apparatus may include an anvil including an outer surface, a channel defined therein, and an aperture defined in the outer surface, where the aperture opens to the channel; and a cutter slidable along and within the channel, where at least a portion of the cutter is flexible. Another exemplary surgical apparatus may include an anvil including an open channel defined therein; and a one-piece cutter including a knife adjacent to a bending region, where the cutter is slidable in the channel; where the knife is initially held completely within the anvil, and where the knife flexes out of the channel and out of the anvil in response to proximal motion of the cutter. An exemplary surgical method of treating tissue within the body of a patient may include providing a flexible cutter including a knife; providing an anvil with a channel defined therein; holding the knife completely within the channel in a stowed position; placing the anvil adjacent to tissue; and moving the cutter proximally, wherein that moving causes at least part of the knife to flex out of the channel and into the tissue adjacent to the anvil.
