The Auto Suture division of United States Surgical, a division of Tyco Healthcare Group LP, announced the launch of new DST Series staplers incorporating Directional Stapling Technology, designed exclusively by Auto Suture Engineering. The announcement comes in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the American College of Surgeons.

The DST series staplers incorporate newly designed staple wire and anvil that were engineered to improve staple formation. Auto Suture engineers designed the DST Series staples to bend in the desired plane more consistently and reliably than traditional staples. The new surgical staples, in combination with a new anvil bucket that provides a wider target area, deliver improved clinical performance, especially during challenging applications.

In another first, U.S. Surgical has also developed a 45-mm DST Series TA stapler, specifically designed to address the needs of colorectal surgeons. Colorectal procedures can be particularly challenging when the deep, narrow, male pelvis is too small to accommodate the size of a 60-mm stapler and the colon is too large for a 30-mm to be effective. For this reason, surgeons have been asking for a more appropriate stapler size for this application.