Suturing system
First Claim
1. A suturing system, comprising:
- a cannula having a tip and defining a first lumen and a second lumen that are joined by a passage that extends between the first and second lumens near the tip of the cannula;
a leading anchor member inside of the first lumen near the tip of the cannula;
a trailing anchor member inside the second lumen and movable from the second to the first lumen through the passage;
a suture connected between the leading and trailing anchor members; and
a rod disposed in the first lumen and movable therein for pushing the leading anchor member out of the tip of the cannula and for blocking the passage that extends between the first and second lumens thereby to prevent the trailing member from moving from the second to the first lumen through the passage.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The suturing system includes a cannula that defines two adjacent lumens. One lumen carries a supply of anchor members that are joined together by a suture. The anchor members are moved by a supply rod, one at a time, from a lower lumen to an upper lumen. The upper lumen terminates in a sharpened tip that is pierced through tissue. The single anchor member that is moved into the upper lumen is then deployed into or behind the pierced tissue and the cannula is retracted. The rod for deploying the anchor member also temporarily blocks movement of additional anchor members from the lower to the upper lumen so that the surgeon can sufficiently tense the suture before piercing the tissue in an adjacent location and depositing a second anchor member. A series of anchor members joined by a continuous suture are deposited in this matter to suture together tissue. Also provided is a gun to which the cannula is mounted for one-handed operation of the system.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A suturing system, comprising:
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a cannula having a tip and defining a first lumen and a second lumen that are joined by a passage that extends between the first and second lumens near the tip of the cannula; a leading anchor member inside of the first lumen near the tip of the cannula; a trailing anchor member inside the second lumen and movable from the second to the first lumen through the passage; a suture connected between the leading and trailing anchor members; and a rod disposed in the first lumen and movable therein for pushing the leading anchor member out of the tip of the cannula and for blocking the passage that extends between the first and second lumens thereby to prevent the trailing member from moving from the second to the first lumen through the passage. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of deploying at a distal region of tissue a series of anchor members that are connected by a suture, comprising the steps of:
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placing the series of anchor members in a cannula that has a tip for piercing tissue to penetrate to the distal region of the tissue; piercing the tissue to locate the tip of the cannula near the distal region of tissue; moving a deploy rod within a first lumen of the cannula for moving a first in the series of anchor members out of the tip to the distal region; preventing with the deploy rod a second in the series of anchor members from moving out of the cannula tip while; retracting the cannula to tense the portion of the suture that is between the first and second anchor members; piercing the tissue to locate the tip of the cannula near the distal region of tissue; and moving the second anchor member out of the tip to the distal region. - View Dependent Claims (9)
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10. A cannula system for deploying at a distal region of tissue a series of anchor members that are connected by a suture, comprising:
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an elongated cannula having a tip and separate first and second lumens defined therein; the cannula having a passage defined therein that connects the first and second lumens and is sized to permit passage of a single anchor member at a time between the two lumens and; wherein the tip has a leading edge having defined therein a slot sufficiently wide to permit a suture to extend out of the tip through the slot. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A cannula system for deploying at a distal region of tissue a series of anchor members that are connected by a suture, comprising:
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an elongated cannula having a tip and separate first and second lumens defined therein; the cannula having a passage defined therein that connects the first and second lumens and is sized to permit passage of a single anchor member at a time between the two lumens; and
further comprising;a deploy rod movably mounted in the first lumen; and a supply rod movably mounted in the second lumen. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification