Illuminated clip and methods of use

摘要

A surgical clip for illuminating tissue in a surgical field has first and second elongate arms and a connector joining the arms together. The arms are biased to expand laterally outward into an expanded configuration in which the arms engage the tissue in the surgical field with enough force to seat the clip without retracting the tissue. A waveguide illuminator is coupled to the first arm, and has a light input portion, a light output portion, and a light conducting portion extending between the light input portion and the light output portion. Light passes through the waveguide illuminator by total internal reflection, and the waveguide illuminator directs light to the tissue. Methods of using the illuminated clip are also disclosed.

主权项

1. A surgical clip for illuminating tissue in a surgical field, said surgical clip comprising:
a first elongate arm; a second elongate arm; a connector element joining the first and second elongate arms, wherein the arms are biased to expand laterally outward into an expanded configuration that engages the tissue and seats the clip; and an illuminator coupled to the first arm, wherein the illuminator provides light for illuminating the surgical field.