Ultrasonic Surgical Instruments Patents: Who Leads, Filing Trends 2026
- 83.7% of all 790 records sit with just five assignees, and 92.7% with ten — this field is about as concentrated as filing data gets.
- Filing peaked in 2018 at 106 and has since flattened toward the 2022 midpoint of 30, with the most recent year still undercounted by publication lag.
- Blade-temperature control is the live claim frontier as shown by the most recent representative filing, while adjacent classes like electrotherapy and vibration generation stay thinly claimed.
What the ultrasonic surgical instrument patent record shows
Ultrasonic surgical instruments sit at the intersection of mechanical vibration generation and tissue-effect control: transducer efficiency, blade temperature limits, cavitation-driven hemostasis and tip wear are the recurring technical problems this corpus is built around. The search scope combines A61B17 (surgical instruments), A61B18 (surgical instruments using energy) and B06B1 (vibration generation), which is why the record set skews almost entirely into surgical and diagnostic classification even though the underlying mechanism is electromechanical.
The dataset covers 790 published records filed or published between 2015 and the 2026-07-31 cut-off. Filing activity is heavily weighted to a handful of long-standing device makers, with a long tail of single- or few-filing entrants — a pattern consistent with a mature instrument category where the core cutting-and-coagulation mechanism has already been claimed several times over.
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Filing trends and technology composition
Two views of the same 790-record corpus: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which IPC subclasses carry the technical weight.
Filing trend, 2017–2026
Filings ran from 32 in 2017 to a peak of 106 in 2018, then eased toward 30 at the 2022 midpoint and down to 0 in the most recent year — a decline that is partly real and partly the roughly 18-month lag between filing and publication understating the last one or two years.
IPC subclass composition
A61B (diagnosis and surgery) covers 99.9% of the 790 records, as expected given the search scope. Beyond that anchor class, A61N (electrotherapy and radiation, 4.4%) and B06B (mechanical vibration generation, 4.3%) are the next most-populated classes, with A61F, A61M, A61D, H10N and A01G each under 2% — a sign that adjacent applications of the same transducer and blade mechanisms are claimed far less densely than the core surgical use.
Shares are the percentage of the 790 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Ultrasonic Surgical Instruments with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about ultrasonic surgical instruments and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaThe most-cited records and a recent representative filing
Combination ultrasonic and electrosurgical instrument with adjustable energy modalities and method for limiting blade temperature
An ultrasonic surgical instrument and method of limiting an ultrasonic blade temperature includes adjusting at least one power parameter of the ultrasonic energy in response to reaching a predetermined frequency parameter change threshold in the ultrasonic blade, limiting the temperature of the ultrasonic blade to an upper temperature limit. The ultrasonic surgical instrument further includes an end effector having an ultrasonic blade, a jaw, and a controller. The jaw is movably positioned relative to the ultrasonic blade and configured to move between an open position and a closed position.Filed by CILAG GMBH INTERNATIONAL, published 2023-11-02 — one of the most recent filings in scope, illustrating where active claim drafting is now concentrated.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6325811B1 | Blades with functional balance asymmetries for use with ultrasonic surgical instruments | 1,969 |
| 2 | WO2011008672A2 | Electrosurgery generator for ultrasonic surgical instruments | 1,852 |
| 3 | US20080200940A1 | Ultrasonic device for cutting and coagulating | 1,727 |
| 4 | US6773444B2 | Blades with functional balance asymmetries for use with ultrasonic surgical instruments | 1,593 |
| 5 | US9241731B2 | Rotatable electrical connection for ultrasonic surgical instruments | 1,513 |
| 6 | US20070055228A1 | Ultrasonic scalpel device | 1,446 |
| 7 | US9724118B2 | Techniques for cutting and coagulating tissue for ultrasonic surgical instruments | 1,388 |
| 8 | US6458142B1 | Force limiting mechanism for an ultrasonic surgical instrument | 1,380 |
| 9 | US20010025184A1 | Blades with functional balance asymmetries for use with ultrasonic surgical instruments | 1,294 |
| 10 | US8591536B2 | Ultrasonic surgical instrument blades | 1,066 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within this searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not as a measure of current commercial importance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the concentration and citation data mean for filing strategy
The ranking, the citation table and the technology composition together point to a field where the core mechanism is heavily claimed and the openings are at the edges.
The core mechanism is locked up at the top
With five assignees holding 83.7% of all 790 records and ten holding 92.7%, blade-and-transducer claim space for the core cutting-coagulation function is dense. New entrants filing directly against this core face heavy prior art regardless of jurisdiction.
Foundational blade-asymmetry claims still anchor the field
The most-cited records concern blade functional-balance asymmetry and generator control for ultrasonic energy delivery — evidence that early mechanical and control claims remain the reference point that later filings are drafted around.
Activity has flattened since the 2018 peak
Filings dropped from a 2018 peak of 106 to 30 at the 2022 midpoint, with the most recent year showing 0 — a trend that reflects both a maturing core technology and the publication lag that always understates the latest year or two.
Adjacent electrotherapy and vibration classes stay thin
Outside the A61B surgical core, only A61N (4.4%) and B06B (4.3%) carry meaningful volume; implant, fluid-delivery and veterinary crossovers (A61F, A61M, A61D) each sit under 2% of the 790 records, leaving room in these adjacent applications.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to ultrasonic surgical instruments, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space, and where the gate sits for new entrants
A small set of established surgical device makers holds the great majority of records; recent-year filing counts show that even the leaders have slowed rather than accelerated.
One assignee holds nearly a third of the corpus alone
The leading assignee's 219 records against a 790-record total sets the scale of this field: no new entrant competes with that volume of blade, transducer and jaw-control claims without a cross-license or a materially different mechanism.
The drop-off from fifth to tenth place is steep
Fifth place holds 18 records and tenth place 12 — a fast taper that shows the ranked field is really two tiers: a small group of volume filers and a long tail of companies with only a handful of records each.
Even the leaders show no recent-year filings yet
Recent-year momentum for the leading assignees reads as 0 filings across the board, including a -100% YoY figure for one major holder — consistent with publication lag rather than a genuine stop in R&D, but worth confirming before reading too much into it.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Ethicon, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Covidien LP | 0 | — |
| Cilag GmbH International | 0 | -100% |
| Shanghai Yisi Medical Technology Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
| ULTRACISION INC | 0 | — |
| Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation | 0 | — |
| Ensurge Medical (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The published record set establishes where claim density already sits; the next step is testing a specific mechanism or jurisdiction against it.
Check a specific blade or transducer design against the leaders' claims
With 83.7% of records held by five assignees, a freedom-to-operate check against those specific claim sets is more useful than a general novelty search.
Run a claim comparison in EurekaTrack the under-claimed branches before they fill in
Blade-temperature feedback and solid-state transducer materials both sit well under 5% of the 790-record total — worth monitoring for new entrants before filing density rises.
Set up monitoring in EurekaConfirm the latest-year drop before assuming a slowdown
The 0 filings shown in the most recent year is very likely a publication-lag artefact rather than a real halt in R&D; pull underlying filing dates to confirm.
Explore filing dates in EurekaCommon questions about the ultrasonic surgical instrument patent landscape
One assignee holds 219 of the 790 records in this corpus, making it the clear leader by volume. The next four assignees combined bring the top-five total to 661 records, or 83.7% of everything in scope, so the field is dominated by a small group of established surgical device makers rather than being evenly spread. Fifth place holds only 18 records and tenth place 12, showing a steep drop-off into a long tail of smaller filers.
Filing activity peaked in 2018 at 106 records and had eased to 30 by the 2022 midpoint, with the most recent year showing 0. That pattern reads as a genuine flattening rather than sustained growth, though the last one or two years are always understated because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months. Anyone using this data to size current R&D activity should treat the most recent year as incomplete rather than as a real stop.
Nearly all records (99.9% of 790) sit in A61B, the core diagnosis-and-surgery classification, which is expected given the search scope. Beyond that, A61N (electrotherapy and radiation, 4.4%) and B06B (mechanical vibration generation, 4.3%) are the next largest classes, with implant, body-fluid, veterinary and solid-state device classes each under 2%. These smaller classes point to adjacent applications of the same transducer and blade technology that are far less densely claimed than the surgical core.
The most-cited record in this corpus has 1,969 citations and concerns blade functional-balance asymmetry, with several other high-citation records covering generator control and cutting-and-coagulating device design. High citation counts favour older filings simply because they have had more years to accumulate citations within a searched corpus, so treat them as evidence of historical influence on how later claims were drafted, not as a ranking of current commercial importance.
The core cutting-and-coagulation mechanism is heavily claimed, with 92.7% of the 790 records held by the ten most active assignees, so filing directly against that core means facing dense prior art. The more open ground sits in adjacent applications shown by the thinner IPC classes: blade-temperature feedback control, veterinary-specific tip design, solid-state transducer materials and combined electrosurgical-ultrasonic modality switching all show low record counts relative to the surgical core.
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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.