Whip stitched graft construct and method of making the same

• US 20070250163A1
• Filed: 03/20/2007
• Published: 10/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arthrex Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Arthrex Incorporated
• Inventors: Cassani, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,298,284 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 623/13.170
• 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: A61F 2/08 Muscles; Tendons; Ligaments sutures A61B17/04
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/0805 Implements for inserting tendons or ligaments
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2/0811 Fixation devices for tendons or ligaments
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/0852 Fixation of a loop or U-turn, e.g. eyelets, anchor having multiple holes
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2002/087 Anchor integrated into tendons, e.g. bone blocks, integrated rings
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2220/0075 sutured, ligatured or stitched, retained or tied with a rope, string, thread, wire or cable
• CPC Class Codes: A61F 2240/001 Designing or manufacturing processes

Abstract

A whip stitched graft construct and method of formation. The whip stitched graft construct includes a plurality of tendon strand regions or soft tissue grafts placed together so that at least a portion of the plurality of the tendon strand regions are stitched together by employing multiple suture passes placed according to a whip stitching technique. Preferably, the multiple suture passes start at about the mid length of the plurality of tendon strand regions and are advanced toward one of the free ends of the tendon strands. The whip stitched graft construct is provided with at least two regions, one region formed of at least a plurality of tendon strand regions tied and whip stitched together, and the other region formed of untied segments of the plurality of tendon strands.

Claims

1. A graft construct, comprising:

a first region comprising a plurality of tendon strands stitched together by at least one flexible strand; and

a second region comprising unstitched tendon strands.

2. The graft construct of claim 1, wherein the flexible strand is a suture loop attached to a free floating needle.

3. The graft construct of claim 2, wherein the suture loop is a FiberWire loop and the needle is a Nitinol needle.

4. The graft construct of claim 1, wherein the first region is a baseball stitched region.

5. The graft construct of claim 1, wherein the first region comprises a multiple pass structure.

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. The graft construct of claim 1, wherein the first region has a first length, and the second region has a second length, the first region being about equal to the second region.

9. 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 equal to the first length, wherein the first tissue strand comprises a plurality of tendons stitched together by a flexible member.

10. The graft construct of claim 9, wherein the flexible member is FiberWire.

11. The graft construct of claim 9, wherein the graft construct is an ACL graft.

12. A method for graft ligament reconstruction, comprising:

providing a graft construct comprising a first region having a plurality of tendon strands stitched together by at least one flexible strand, and a second region comprising unstitched and folded over tendon strands; and

securing the graft construct into a target tunnel.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the formation of a structure of multiple passes of the flexible strand over the first region.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising the steps of providing a loop of the flexible strand in the vicinity of the graft construct, and passing the loop of the flexible strand through each of the plurality of tendon strands of the first region to form a stitch.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the loop of the flexible strand is a suture loop.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the loop of the flexible strand is attached to a free floating needle.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the flexible strand is FiberWire.

18. The method of claim 12 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.

19. A method of forming a graft, comprising:

providing a tendon strand; and

forming a stitched region of the tendon strand by threading a suture loop/needle construct through the tendon strand and advancing the suture loop/needle construct in a direction toward an end of the tendon strand.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the suture loop/needle construct comprises a loop of suture attached to a needle.

21. A method of forming an ACL graft, comprising:

providing a first tendon strand adjacent a second tendon strand, the first and second tendon strands having about equal lengths; and

securing the first tendon strand next to the second tendon strand by employing a FiberWire loop, to form an ACL graft having a stitched region and a non-stitched region.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein at least one of the first and second tendon strands is a semitendonosus or a tibialis.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of securing the first tendon strand next to the second tendon strand is conducted by threading the FiberWire loop through about the center of the first and second tendon strands, and then advancing the FiberWire loop in a direction toward an end of the first and second tendon strands.

24. A method of threading suture through a tendon strand, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a tendon strand in the vicinity of a work station;

folding over the tendon strand to form a folded tendon;

threading a flexible strand through about the center of the folded tendon; and

forming a plurality of threads by advancing the flexible strand toward an end of the folded tendon and in a direction away from the work station.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the flexible strand is a suture loop attached to a free floating needle.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the suture loop is FiberWire loop.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the threads are provided in a plurality of rows, at least two of the rows being about parallel to each other.