SURGICAL CLIP

A surgical clip for anastomosis. The clip includes first and second lengths of a wire, each length defining a similar closed geometrical shape having a central opening. When placed in side-by-side registrations the two lengths of wire fully overlap. The clip has an intermediate portion of wire formed of a shape memory alloy located between the first and second lengths of wire. There is a cutting element associated with the first length of wire and a counter eleme nt associated with the second length of wire. When at a first temperature or higher, the first and second lengths of wire are positioned side-by-side and when at a second temperature or lower, below the first temperature, the first and second lengths of wire move into a spaced apart position. Upon heating the clip to at least the first temperatures the two lengths of wire return to their side-by-side position.