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Surgery on the stomach can be risky, but Ethicon Endo-Surgery of Cincinnati
reckons it can make the operations—such as hernia repair—safer (WO
00/57794). During stomach surgery, carbon dioxide gas is pumped into the
abdominal cavity to lift the stomach wall. But this puts pressure on sensitive
tissues. So Ethicon has come up with a shell like a builder’s hard hat with a
soft-sealed rim. This is placed over the stomach, and the air is pumped out,
creating a vacuum that lifts the stomach wall. A transparent membrane in the
shell lets surgical instruments in, while sealing itself tightly around the
instrument shaft to preserve the vacuum.