A surgical stapling instrument (1) for laparoscopic manipulation of tissue in a patients body comprises a support shaft (4), a handle (2) connected to a proximal end (3) of the support shaft (4), a staple fastening assembly (5) connected to a distal end (6) of the support shaft (4) and having a curved cartridge (10) and a curved anvil (11) adapted to cooperate with the cartridge (10) for clamping the tissue and forming the ends of staples exiting from the cartridge (10). The support shaft (4) comprises a curved shaft segment (7) formed between a proximal shaft segment (8) and a distal shaft segment (9) so that a longitudinal axis (D-D) of the distal shaft segment (9) and staple fastening assembly (5) is inclined with respect to a longitudinal axis (P-P) of the proximal shaft segment (8).