Bundle Graft and Method of Making Same

• US 20070239275A1
• Filed: 03/08/2007
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arthrex Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Arthrex Incorporated
• Inventors: Willobee, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,202,318 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 623/13.170
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/08 Muscles; Tendons; Ligaments sutures A61B17/04
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2220/0075 sutured, ligatured or stitched, retained or tied with a rope, string, thread, wire or cable

Abstract

A graft construct formed of a plurality of single tendon strands or soft tissue grafts placed together so that at least a portion of one of the single tendon strands is wrapped around a portion of another of the single provided with at least two suturing, for example. The graft construct is provided with at least two regions, one region formed of at least a plurality of tendon strands tied together, and the other region formed of loose segments of the plurality of tendon strands.

Claims

1. A graft construct, comprising:

a first region comprising a plurality of tendon strands bound together by at least one flexible strand, so that at least one of the tendon strands wraps around at least one other of the tendon strands; and

a second region comprising loose tendon strands.

2. The graft construct of claim 1, wherein each of the loose tendon strands comprises a stitched region and a non-stitched region.

3. The graft construct of claim 2, wherein the stitched region is a baseball stitched region.

4. The graft construct of claim 1, wherein the plurality of tendon strands of the first region are bound together by suture forming a multiple pass structure on the first region.

5. The graft construct of claim 1, wherein the flexible strand is FiberWire.

6. The graft construct of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of tendon strands is a tibialis or a semitendonosus.

7. The graft construct of claim 1, wherein the graft construct is an ACL graft.

8. A graft construct for ligament reconstruction, comprising:

at least a first tissue strand having a first length; and

at least a second tissue strand having a second length which is about twice the first length of the first tissue strand, wherein a first region of the first tissue strand is secured to a second region of the second tissue strand by a flexible member.

9. The graft construct of claim 8, wherein the first region of the first tissue strand is about one third the length of the first tissue graft.

10. The graft construct of claim 8, wherein the second region of the second tissue strand is about one third the length of the second tissue graft.

11. The graft construct of claim 8, wherein at least one of the first tissue strand and the second tissue strand comprises soft tissue.

12. The graft construct of claim 8, wherein at least one of the first tissue strand and the second tissue strand is a tendon.

13. A graft construct for ligament reconstruction, comprising:

at least a first tendon strand; and

at least a second tendon strand provided adjacent the first tendon strand, so that the first tendon strand is about perpendicular to at least a portion of the second tendon strand.

14. The graft construct of claim 13, wherein a region of the first tendon strand is secured to a region of the second tendon strand by a flexible member.

15. The graft construct of claim 13, wherein a region of the first tendon strand is stitched to a region of the second tendon strand by suture.

16. The graft construct of claim 15, wherein the region of the first tendon strand is about one third the length of the first tendon graft.

17. The graft construct of claim 13, wherein the first tendon graft comprises at least one non-stitched region.

18. The graft construct of claim 13, wherein the second tendon graft comprises at least one non-stitched region.

19. A method for graft ligament reconstruction, comprising:

providing a graft construct comprising a first region formed of a plurality of tendon strands secured together by at least one flexible strand, and a second region formed of loose tendon strands; and

securing the graft construct into a target tunnel.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the formation of a structure of multiple passes of the flexible strand over the first region.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of passing the flexible strand through each of the plurality of tendon strands of the first region to form a stitch.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the flexible strand is a suture strand.

23. The method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

inserting the graft construct into the target tunnel; and

providing a fixation device adjacent to the first region of the graft construct to secure the graft construct within the target tunnel.

24. A method of forming a triple bundle ACL graft, comprising:

providing a first tendon strand having a first length;

providing a second tendon strand having a second length which is greater than the first length; and

securing about one third of the second tendon strand around about one third of the first tendon strand by employing suture, to form a triple bundle ACL graft having a stitched region and a non-stitched region comprising loose tendon strands.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the second length of the second tendon strand is about twice the first length of the first tendon strand.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the first tendon strand is a semitendonosus or a tibialis.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the second tendon strand is a semitendonosus or a tibialis.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of securing about one third of the second tendon strand around about one third of the first tendon strand is conducted by wrapping the second tendon strand around the first tendon strand prior to the step of employing suture.