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Run your analysis now →https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/rd-blog/surgical-smoke-evacuation-and-safety-patent-landscape/ · Patsnap · data cut-off 2026-07-31 · downloaded from the live page
Patent Landscape · Medical EquipmentSurgical smoke evacuation patents: mapping the filers, the filing surge and the gaps still open
- 86.7% of all 45 records sit with just five assignees, so the field is concentrated at the top rather than fragmented across many small filers.
- +700% filing growth from 2021 (1 filing) to 2024 (8 filings), the last year the dataset treats as complete.
- A61M, G01F and G08B claims trail far behind the dominant A61B class, pointing to flow-sensing and alarm integration as comparatively open ground.
45
Published Records
87%
Top-5 Share of All Records
+700%
Filing Growth 2021→2024
US
Leading Jurisdiction
Filing growth compares 2021 (1 records) with 2024 (8) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 45 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
Published byPatsnap Research··7 min readSourced from Patsnap Eureka
Field Overview
What this patent set covers
Surgical smoke evacuation covers the instruments, filters and control systems used to remove electrosurgical plume from the operating field and the operating room air. The scope here spans 45 published records filed or published between 2015 and mid-2026, drawn from a search string tied to particulate capture, chemical content, capture efficiency, integrated evacuation instruments, noise, suction balance, operating room air and regulatory mandate. Patent families are the fairer unit for judging real activity, since they strip out duplicate continuation filings and multi-jurisdiction copies of the same invention.
Filing activity in this set is recent and concentrated: the earliest years in the trend show no activity, and the growth from a single filing in 2021 to eight in 2024 marks the field's inflection point rather than a mature, steady-state technology.
Filing activity by year
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee ranking and totals. Derived from a Patsnap search on Surgical Smoke Evacuation and Safety covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
The Numbers
Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 45 records: how filing volume moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses the claims actually sit in.
A late, sharp filing ramp
Filings sat at zero through the earlier years covered, then rose to a peak of 8 in 2024 -- a +700% increase from the single 2021 filing. Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the apparent softness in 2025 and 2026 reflects the reporting lag, not a slowdown; 2024 is the most recent year the trend can be read as complete.
Claims cluster in surgery and fluid handling
A61B (diagnosis & surgery) covers 86.7% of the 45 records and A61M (devices for body fluids) covers 37.8%, confirming that most claims are written around the surgical instrument and evacuation conduit itself. G01F (flow measuring) and G08B (signalling & alarms) each sit at 15.6%, well behind the leading classes -- these are the smaller, more specialised branches of the same field.
Shares are the percentage of the 45 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Surgical Smoke Evacuation and Safety covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.
Go deeper on Surgical Smoke Evacuation and Safety with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about surgical smoke evacuation and safety and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
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The most-cited prior art in this field
Representative Filing
Disinfecting device for surgical smoke evacuation system
COVIDIEN LP
A surgical smoke evacuation system includes a smoke evacuator, a suction instrument, a suction conduit, and a disinfecting device. The smoke evacuator includes a suction generator configured to create a vacuum force. The suction instrument is configured to couple to the smoke evacuator via the suction conduit. The disinfecting device is operably coupled to the suction conduit or the smoke evacuator, and includes a housing defining an inner chamber, an inlet, an outlet, and an ultraviolet disinfecting element.Filed by Covidien LP, published 2022-12-29 as US20220409764A1.
Highest-cited records
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US5226939A | Surgical smoke evacuation system | 66 |
| 2 | US20130131580A1 | Relating to systems for laparoscopic surgery | 37 |
| 3 | WO2011078701A1 | Improvements relating to systems for laparoscopic surgery | 19 |
| 4 | US20170136195A1 | Systems for laparoscopic surgery | 8 |
| 5 | US20210068864A1 | Surgical access system | 6 |
| 6 | US10426902B2 | Systems for laparoscopic surgery | 5 |
| 7 | CA2241516A1 | Surgical smoke evacuation apparatus | 5 |
| 8 | US20230126084A1 | Systems for laparoscopic surgery | 3 |
| 9 | US20190351157A1 | Systems for laparoscopic surgery | 3 |
| 10 | WO1997023167A1 | Surgical smoke evacuation apparatus | 3 |
Citation counts reflect influence within the searched corpus and favour older filings; they are not a measure of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Citation counts and representative records. Derived from a Patsnap search on Surgical Smoke Evacuation and Safety covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
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What the filing pattern tells a competitive team
Three findings that shape where to file, where to watch, and where the record space is still thin.
Concentration
86.7% top 5
of 45 records
Five filers hold most of the field
The top five assignees combined account for 86.7% of all 45 records in scope, while the top ten cover the full 100.0%. That leaves no meaningful long tail beyond the ranked leaders -- anyone entering now is filing into a field where the claim space is already occupied by a small group.
Based on the 45-record assignee ranking
Momentum
1 → 8 filings
2021 to 2024
The surge is recent, not historical
Filing volume moved from a single record in 2021 to eight in 2024, a +700% rise over three years. This is a young filing wave rather than a settled one, and the leaders' recent-year momentum has already cooled from that 2024 peak.
Peak year 2024 at 8 filings
Composition
37.8% A61M
of 45 records
Fluid-handling claims are the second pillar
After A61B's 86.7% coverage, A61M (devices for body fluids) at 37.8% is the next largest class, well ahead of G01F and G08B at 15.6% each. Claims on the core suction and evacuation path are dense; claims on flow sensing and alarm signalling are comparatively sparse.
IPC subclass shares, 45 records in scope
Eureka AI Agent
Looking for what nobody has claimed yet?
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to surgical smoke evacuation and safety, with the prior art for and against each one.
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Co-assignee relationships and derived observations. Derived from a Patsnap search on Surgical Smoke Evacuation and Safety covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Who's Filing
The assignee landscape
Fifteen companies make up the entire ranked list returned for this search -- not a top-50 or top-100 cut, but the whole field as the dataset defines it.
Leader
17 records
of 45 total
One filer well ahead of the rest
The leading assignee holds 17 of the 45 records in scope, roughly double the fifth-place filer's count of 3. That gap suggests one company built an early, broad filing position around the core evacuation instrument rather than a single narrow claim.
Leader vs. fifth place: 17 vs. 3
Mid-field
3 records
fifth place
A tight cluster behind the leader
From second through fifth place the counts sit close together before dropping off sharply -- fifth place holds 3 records and tenth place holds just 1. This is a field with one dominant filer and a compressed group of competitors behind it, not a gradual long tail.
Tenth place: 1 record
Collaboration
10 pairs
co-assignee pairs
Co-filing is limited but repeats
Ten co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, with the strongest pairings repeating twice each around the same individual inventor-assignee. This points to small, stable inventor teams rather than broad cross-company joint filings.
Strongest pairs recur at 2 records each
Recent-year momentum by assignee
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd | 0 | — |
| ACUDERM | 0 | — |
| Covidien LP | 0 | — |
| Stryker Corp | 0 | -100% |
| Cilag GmbH International | 0 | -100% |
| Conmed Corp | 0 | — |
| KIRSCHMAN DAVID LOUIS | 0 | — |
| HARWOOD JONATHAN DAVID | 0 | — |
Source: Patsnap Eureka. Assignee-level momentum. Derived from a Patsnap search on Surgical Smoke Evacuation and Safety covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
What's Next
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to a young, concentrated field with specific gaps. These are the practical next steps for an IP or R&D team.
Check freedom to operate around the leader's claims
With one assignee holding 17 of 45 records, any new instrument design should be checked against that filer's claim scope before committing to a build, particularly around the core suction conduit and evacuator housing.
Run a freedom-to-operate check in EurekaWatch the under-claimed sensing and alarm branches
G01F and G08B classes sit at 15.6% of records each, far behind the core A61B and A61M claims. Flow-sensing and alarm-signalling designs have comparatively more open claim space today.
Explore white space in EurekaTrack the post-2024 filing lag
Publication lag means 2025 and 2026 filings are still arriving. Re-running this search periodically will reveal whether the 2024 peak was a one-off surge or the start of a sustained wave.
Set up monitoring in EurekaSource: Patsnap Eureka. Forward-looking reading of the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Surgical Smoke Evacuation and Safety covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
FAQ
Common questions about this landscape
One assignee leads the field with 17 of the 45 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked filer's 3 records. The top five assignees together account for 86.7% of all records, and the top ten cover the full set. This means the field is concentrated among a small group rather than spread evenly across many companies, so competitive tracking should focus on that ranked group rather than trying to monitor a long tail that does not really exist here.
Filing activity grew sharply in recent years, moving from a single filing in 2021 to a peak of 8 in 2024, a +700% increase over that span. Because patent publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the lower counts shown for 2025 and 2026 in this dataset reflect that reporting delay rather than an actual drop in filing activity. Treat 2024 as the last year the trend can be read as complete.
The dominant class is A61B (diagnosis and surgery), covering 86.7% of the 45 records, followed by A61M (devices for body fluids) at 37.8%. Smaller but still present classes include G01F (flow, level and volume measuring) and G08B (signalling and alarm systems), each at 15.6%, along with A61L (sterilising and disinfecting) at 8.9%. Since a single record can carry multiple classes, these shares add up to more than 100% and should be read individually against the 45-record total, not summed.
The class data points to flow-sensing, alarm-signalling and ventilation integration as comparatively thin relative to the dominant surgical-instrument and fluid-handling claims. Areas such as real-time capture-efficiency sensing, suction-noise attenuation and suction-balance control logic show fewer filings than the core evacuation conduit and instrument designs. A new entrant targeting one of these narrower technical branches faces a less crowded claim landscape than one filing directly against the core instrument architecture.
US20220409764A1, assigned to Covidien LP and published 2022-12-29, describes a surgical smoke evacuation system with a smoke evacuator, suction instrument, suction conduit and a disinfecting device that includes an ultraviolet disinfecting element housed inline with the suction path. It represents the integration of disinfection functionality directly into the evacuation hardware rather than as a separate step. Anyone designing a competing evacuation system with inline UV disinfection should review this filing's specific claim language around the housing, inlet and outlet configuration before finalising a design.
Answers are grounded in the same dataset. Derived from a Patsnap search on Surgical Smoke Evacuation and Safety covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish.Run this in Eureka MCP
Research Surgical Smoke Evacuation and Safety in depth with Eureka
Go past this page: query the whole surgical smoke evacuation and safety corpus yourself, in your own scope.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company's registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.