United States: Covidien , a leading global provider of healthcare products, has announced the delivery of the Company’s 20,000th ForceTriad™ energy platform. The Dongzhimen Hospital, an affiliate of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, in Beijing, China, took delivery of the device earlier this month. Known for its teaching and clinical research, Dongzhimen Hospital embraces both Chinese and Western medicine in serving the healthcare needs of its patients and the community.

The ForceTriad energy platform, which is used in combination with a variety of hand-held surgical devices, enables surgeons to use energy to achieve a range of tissue effects, including dissection and vessel fusion. Since its launch in 2006, the ForceTriad platform has been placed into service in hospitals in 94 countries.

“The purchase of the 20,000th ForceTriad energy platform by the Dongzhimen Hospital reflects Covidien’s global expansion in energy devices,” said Bryan Hanson, President, Energy-based Devices, Covidien. “Where surgeons once used traditional mechanical methods, they now routinely use energy to cut and fuse tissue.”

The ForceTriad platform uses enhanced LigaSure™ tissue fusion technology to permanently fuse vessels, lymphatics, tissue bundles and pulmonary vasculature. This unit is used in a wide variety of surgical procedures, including many urologic and gynecologic procedures, such as hysterectomies.