A surgical stapling device is disclosed for performing circular anastomoses. The surgical stapling device includes a handle portion, an elongated body portion and a head portion including an anvil assembly and a shell assembly. The anvil assembly includes a tiltable anvil which will tilt automatically after the device has been fired and unapproximated. The anvil assembly of the stapling device also includes a retainer clip positioned on the anvil head. The retainer clip includes at least one resilient arm which is positioned to engage a cutting ring during unapproximation of the stapling device.
This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/528,975, filed on Mar. 23, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,303,106, which is a national stage entry of International Application Serial No. PCT/US2003/031638 filed on Oct. 6, 2003, which in turn claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/416,055, filed Oct. 4, 2002, the entirety which is incorporated herein by reference.
