ROTATIONALLY DRIVEN SURGICAL TOOL ASSEMBLY AND METHOD

摘要

A surgical tool assembly typically includes a drive unit and a surgical tool. The drive unit includes a female drive recess for receiving the proximal end of the surgical tool. A guard is disposed in front of the drive recess and acts as a filter to limit the possible surgical tools that may be mated with the drive unit. The guard includes a non-circular filter opening with a minimum cross dimension that is larger than a minimum cross dimension of the drive recess, but smaller than the maximum cross dimension of the drive recess. Proper surgical tools include a non-round keying section that is configured to fit through the guard opening in at least one orientation. The guard is spaced sufficiently forward relative to the drive recess so that only properly keyed surgical tools may be mated with the drive recess.