Ethicon Breaks New Ground With Articulating Laparoscopic Energy Device

Article preview from Medtech Insight - February, 2013

Ethicon hopes to increase penetration in the advanced energy market with its new ENSEAL G2 Articulating Tissue Sealer, a first-of-its-kind, articulating, laparoscopic energy device designed for use in complex procedures, including colorectal, thoracic, single-site, and cancer surgeries.

 

Ethicon Breaks New Ground With Articulating Laparoscopic Energy Device

Article preview from Medtech Insight - February, 2013

Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. (Ethicon), part of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies, is taking a new angle in the advancement of energy tools for laparoscopic surgery with a first-of-its-kind, articulating energy device that enables stronger vessel sealing and improved tissue access when operating in deep or confined spaces. The company received US Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance in February for the ENSEAL G2 Articulating Tissue Sealer, a bipolar energy device that allows surgeons to take a perpendicular approach to seal vessels up to 7 mm in diameter through a 5-mm port. The company plans to launch the device in the next six months.

According to Tom O’Brien, Ethicon’s VP of global strategic marketing, surgeons prefer a perpendicular approach when sealing vessels during laparoscopic surgery, as it provides a stronger seal than when vessels are sealed at oblique angles. Thus, having a tool like the ENSEAL at their disposal could enable surgeons to widen their use of laparoscopic surgery to more complex procedures and patients.

“Our overall mission is to find ways to improve the safety of surgery, and provide surgeons with tools that make minimally invasive surgery (MIS) easier and more effective,” says O’Brien. With that goal in mind, Ethicon focused on new laparoscopic technologies that could reduce procedure variability and the potential complications that can ensue. A device such as the ENSEAL G2 Articulating Tissue Sealer can make maneuvering easier, provide better access to tissue in deep or tight spaces, and improve control of the angle of approach to vessels. These improvements will enable more surgeons to perform complex procedures using MIS techniques, which will help expand the use of MIS, he explains. “When surgeons are making a choice between open and laparoscopic surgery, this [new tool] provides them with an MIS option that they might not otherwise have considered. If this device convinces even a few surgeons to take a case that they might have thought twice about, and now move it to a laparoscopic procedure, we think it is good for patients and good from an outcomes standpoint.”

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