Esophageal and intestinal coupling devices

摘要

A surgical apparatus and method for joining esophageal, intestinal, or other tubular tissue segments comprises a delivery tube and a delivery docking member each carrying a coupling member seated at its distal end for delivering the coupling members to a terminal location in a respective tissue segment. An actuating rod received through the delivery tube and threadably mated with the docking arm adjusts the delivery tube relative to the docking arm to push the coupling members together causing them to fasten to one another and join the tissue segments. The bodies of the coupling members are preferably formed of biodissolvable material to degrade as the tissue segments grow together.