SHAPE MEMORY FILAMENT FOR SUTURE MANAGEMENT

• US 20080086147A1
• Filed: 10/05/2006
• Published: 04/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Thomas P. Knapp
• Original Assignee: Thomas P. Knapp
• Inventors: Knapp, Thomas P.
• Application Number:
  US11/309,829
• Publication Number:
  US 20080086147A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/113
• 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 17/3401 Puncturing needles for the peridural or subarachnoid space or the plexus, e.g. for anaesthesia local anaesthesia A61M19/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00867 shape memory effect for prostheses A61F2210/0014

Abstract

A member of a rigid flexible elastic material, the member including a body portion and an aperture portion with the member adapted for delivery through an axial longitudinal channel of a percutaneous delivery subsystem, the aperture portion including an expanded mode having a lateral dimension greater than an inner diameter of the channel when the aperture portion extends outside the channel and a collapsed mode wherein the lateral dimension is not greater than the inner diameter of the channel when the aperture portion is within the channel, the channel including a first axial opening and a second axial opening with the aperture portion transitioning from the expanded mode to the collapsed mode when inserted into the openings and the aperture transitioning from the collapsed mode to the expanded mode when exiting from the openings.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a percutaneous delivery subsystem including a tissue-penetrating member defining an axial longitudinal channel having an internal longitudinal cross-section with said channel including a first longitudinal opening and a second longitudinal opening; and

a member of a rigid flexible elastic material, said member including a body portion and an aperture portion with said member adapted for delivery through said axial longitudinal channel, said aperture portion including an expanded mode having a lateral dimension greater than a greatest width of said internal longitudinal cross-section when said aperture portion extends outside said channel and a collapsed mode wherein said lateral dimension is not greater than said greatest width of said channel when said aperture portion is within said channel, with said aperture portion transitioning from said expanded mode to said collapsed mode when inserted into said openings and said aperture transitioning from said collapsed mode to said expanded mode when exiting from said openings.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said percutaneous delivery subsystem includes a spinal needle with an internal nominal inside diameter no larger than about eighteen gauge.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said portion of said rigid flexible elastic member includes a filament of a shape memory material.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said percutaneous delivery subsystem includes a spinal needle with an internal nominal inside diameter no larger than about eighteen gauge.

5. A method, the method comprising:

a) installing a suture anchor with an attached suture strand in a portion of body adjacent a section of tissue to be secured within a body;

b) piercing percutaneously said tissue with a sharp distal end of a spinal needle having a channel extending from said sharp distal end to a proximal end outside said body;

c) inserting a member into an end of said spinal needle, said member including a body portion and an aperture portion with said member adapted for delivery through said channel, said aperture portion including an expanded mode having a lateral dimension greater than an inner diameter of said channel when said aperture portion extends outside said channel and a collapsed mode wherein said lateral dimension is not greater than said inner diameter of said channel when said aperture portion is within said channel, said aperture portion transitioning from said expanded mode to said collapsed mode when inserted into said ends and said aperture transitioning from said collapsed mode to said expanded mode when exiting from said ends;

d) deploying said aperture portion from said sharp distal end;

e) capturing said suture strand with said aperture portion; and

f) passing said captured suture strand through said tissue by retracting said aperture portion through said tissue.

6. A method for repairing a superior labrum anterior to posterior tear, the method comprising:

a) installing a posterior portal into a shoulder proximate the superior labrum;

b) installing a suture anchor at about a forty-five degree angle into a glenohumeral joint of said shoulder, said suture anchor including at least one suture;

c) inserting percutaneously a needle into said shoulder, said needle adjacent a lateral acromion and passing through a supraspinutas tendon of said shoulder;

d) introducing a suture transport into said glenohumeral joint through a channel of said needle;

e) coupling said suture to said suture transport; and

f) extracting said suture transport from said shoulder to extend said suture from said anchor outside said shoulder through said supraspinutas tendon.