Soft tissue repair device and associated methods

• US 10,251,637 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2015
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Biomet Sports Medicine LLC (Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Biomet Sports Medicine LLC (Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stone, Kevin T., Kaiser, Ryan A., Sautter, Nathan M., Holst, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Dornbusch, Dianne
• Application Number:
  US14/876,167
• Publication Number:
  US 20160022261A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,281 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/0401 Suture anchors, buttons or pledgets, i.e. means for attaching sutures to bone, cartilage or soft tissue; Instruments for applying or removing suture anchors A61B17/0642 takes precedence; fixation devices for tendons or ligaments A61F2/0811
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/0469 Suturing instruments for use in minimally invasive surgery, e.g. endoscopic surgery
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/0482 Needle or suture guides guides for drills, pins or wire A61B17/17; for puncturing needles A61B17/3403
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/0485 Devices or means, e.g. loops, for capturing the suture thread and threading it through an opening of a suturing instrument or needle eyelet
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/0493 Protective devices for suturing, i.e. for protecting the patient's organs or the operator
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0404 Buttons
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0406 Pledgets
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0409 Instruments for applying suture anchors for applying suture clamps, clips or locks A61B2017/0488
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0414 having a suture-receiving opening, e.g. lateral opening lateral eyelet for attaching suture to needle A61B2017/06019
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0417 T-fasteners
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0445 cannulated, e.g. with a longitudinal through-hole for passage of an instrument
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0464 for soft tissue
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0472 Multiple-needled, e.g. double-needled, instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0475 using sutures having a slip knot
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0496 for tensioning sutures
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/06052 Needle-suture combinations in which a suture is extending inside a hollow tubular needle, e.g. over the entire length of the needle hollow suture needles A61B2017/061
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/0646 for insertion into cartillege, e.g. meniscus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/036 abutting on tissue or skin

Abstract

A soft tissue repair device. The device includes an inserter having a distal portion, a first anchor carried externally onto the distal portion, a second anchor carried externally onto the distal portion, and a flexible strand coupling the first and second anchors and forming an adjustable knotless loop.

Claims

1. A method for repairing a defect in a fibrous soft tissue, the method comprising:

advancing, on a distal portion of an inserter, a first tubular anchor along a first pathway through a tear in a meniscus to an outer surface of the meniscus, wherein the first tubular anchor includes a first longitudinal bore through which the distal portion of the inserter, during said advancing, is slidably received, and wherein, during said advancing, a hollow shaft which is received on the inserter and which is situated proximally of the first tubular anchor on the inserter contacts a proximal portion of the first tubular anchor to provide a stop for the first tubular anchor as the first tubular anchor is being advanced along the first pathway toward the outer surface of the meniscus, the hollow shaft including a second longitudinal bore through which the inserter is slidably received during said advancing, and wherein said advancing delivers the entirety of the first tubular anchor to the outer surface of the meniscus;

deploying the first tubular anchor from the distal portion of the inserter at a first location along the outer surface of the meniscus, wherein, during said deploying, an adjustable loop coupled to the first tubular anchor extends back through the first pathway and again through the tear in the meniscus along a second pathway to connect to a second tubular anchor deployed at a second location along the outer surface of the meniscus; and

tensioning the adjustable loop to reduce the tear in the meniscus.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said tensioning causes rotation of the first tubular anchor and the second tubular anchor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjustable loop is a knotless adjustable loop.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjustable loop incorporates a slip knot.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first tubular anchor has an elongated shape.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first tubular anchor is rigid.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said advancing includes passing the distal portion of the inserter through the tear in the meniscus and through the outer surface of the meniscus.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the distal portion of the inserter includes an inclined sharp edge for piercing through the outer surface of the meniscus.

9. A method for repairing a tear in a meniscus, the method comprising:

advancing, on a distal portion of an inserter, a first tubular anchor along a first pathway through a tear in a meniscus to an outer surface of the meniscus, wherein the first tubular anchor includes a first longitudinal bore through which the distal portion of the inserter, during said advancing, is slidably received, and wherein, during said advancing, a hollow shaft which is received on the inserter and which is situated proximally of the first tubular anchor on the inserter contacts a proximal portion of the first tubular anchor to provide a stop for the first tubular anchor as the first tubular anchor is being advanced along the first pathway toward the outer surface of the meniscus, the hollow shaft including a second longitudinal bore through which the inserter is slidably received during said advancing, and wherein, during said advancing, an adjustable loop coupled to the first tubular anchor extends back through the first pathway and connects to a second tubular anchor that is waiting outside the tear in the meniscus for a deployment subsequent to that of the first tubular anchor, and wherein said advancing delivers the entirety of the first tubular anchor to the outer surface of the meniscus; and

deploying the first tubular anchor from the distal portion of the inserter along the outer surface of the meniscus.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the adjustable loop is a knotless adjustable loop.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the adjustable loop incorporates a slip knot.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the first tubular anchor has an elongated shape.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the first tubular anchor is rigid.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said advancing includes passing the distal portion of the inserter through the tear in the meniscus and through the outer surface of the meniscus.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the distal portion of the inserter includes an inclined sharp edge for piercing through the outer surface of the meniscus.

16. A method for repairing a defect in a fibrous soft tissue, the method comprising:

advancing, on a distal portion of an inserter, a first tubular anchor along a first pathway through a tear in a meniscus to an outer surface of the meniscus, wherein the first tubular anchor includes a longitudinal bore through which the distal portion of the inserter, during said advancing, is slidably received, and wherein, during said advancing, a hollow shaft which is received on the inserter and which is situated proximally of the first tubular anchor on the inserter contacts a proximal portion of the first tubular anchor to provide a stop for the first tubular anchor as the first tubular anchor is being advanced along the first pathway toward the outer surface of the meniscus, and wherein said advancing delivers the entirety of the first tubular anchor to the outer surface of the meniscus;

deploying the first tubular anchor from the distal portion of the inserter at a first location along the outer surface of the meniscus, wherein, during said deploying, an adjustable loop coupled to the first tubular anchor extends back through the first pathway and again through the tear in the meniscus along a second pathway to connect to a second tubular anchor deployed at a second location along the outer surface of the meniscus; and

tensioning the adjustable loop to reduce the tear in the meniscus,

wherein the first tubular anchor includes a side wall that fully surrounds a first section of the longitudinal bore.

17. A method for repairing a tear in a meniscus, the method comprising:

advancing, on a distal portion of an inserter, a first tubular anchor along a first pathway through a tear in a meniscus to an outer surface of the meniscus, wherein the first tubular anchor includes a longitudinal bore through which the distal portion of the inserter, during said advancing, is slidably received, and wherein, during said advancing, a hollow shaft which is received on the inserter and which is situated proximally of the first tubular anchor on the inserter contacts a proximal portion of the first tubular anchor to provide a stop for the first tubular anchor as the first tubular anchor is being advanced along the first pathway toward the outer surface of the meniscus, and wherein, during said advancing, an adjustable loop coupled to the first tubular anchor extends back through the first pathway and connects to a second tubular anchor that is waiting outside the tear in the meniscus for a deployment subsequent to that of the first tubular anchor, and wherein said advancing delivers the entirety of the first tubular anchor to the outer surface of the meniscus; and

deploying the first tubular anchor from the distal portion of the inserter along the outer surface of the meniscus,

wherein the first tubular anchor includes a side wall that fully surrounds a first section of the longitudinal bore.