Patent 7344544 was granted and assigned to Cardica, Inc. on March, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A system for closing an opening in tissue may include an end effector that holds a staple, where the staple is plastically deformed to a splayed configuration for engaging tissue, then plastically deformed to a closed condition for closing the opening. The system may include one or more butterfly members configured to register the opening to the end effector.