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Method for anchoring suture to bone
| Details |
Inventors: Gatturna, Roland F.; Nicholson, James E.; O'Leary, James;
Assignee: Mitek Surgical Products, Inc. (Norwood, MA)
Primary Examiner: Pellegrino; Stephen C.
Assistant Examiner: Jackson; Gary
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
A method for anchoring suture to bone, wherein the method comprises the steps of (1) providing a suture anchor of the sort comprising (a) a coupling member, (b) at least one barb, said barb having a first end and a second end and being curved in its normal unstressed state and being capable of being elastically deformed to a substantially straight configuration, said barb being attached to said coupling member so that said second end of said barb is substantially displaced from said coupling member when said barb is in its normal unstressed state but is aligned with said coupling member when said barb is deformed to a substantially straight configuration, and (c) attachment means for attaching the suture to the suture anchor, (2) deforming the barb to a substantially straight configuration and retaining the barb in its deformed condition, and attaching a suture to the suture anchor, and forming a hole in a bone to which the suture is to be anchored, (3) inserting the suture anchor with its deformed barb into the hole in the bone, and (4) releasing the barb from its deformed condition while the suture anchor is disposed in the hole, whereby the barb will restore itself to its normal curved state so as to fix the suture anchor and hence the suture to the bone. |
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by a novel suture anchor which comprises a coupling member and at least one barb.
The coupling member comprises a relatively rigid member which is substantially straight along a first axis.
The barb comprises a relatively strong piece of wire having a first end and a second end and which is significantly curved in its unrestrained state but which is capable of being elastically deformed to a substantially straight length when desired.
The barb is attached to the coupling member adjacent the barb's first end, whereby (a) when the barb is in its curved, unrestrained state the second end of the barb extends radially outward from, and is significantly displaced from, the first axis of the coupling member, and (b) when the barb has been elastically deformed to a substantially straight length, the second end of the barb will be aligned with both the first end of the barb and the first axis of the coupling member.
The coupling member also includes attachment means for attaching a suture to the suture anchor.
The foregoing suture anchor is used to attach objects to bone in the following manner.
The suture anchor is prepared for use by loading it into an installation tool so that the coupling member is in a leading position with the coupling member's attachment means remaining exposed and with the second end of the barb being elastically deformed backwards so that the barb extends substantially straight, i.
e.
, so that the second end of the barb is aligned with both the first end of the barb and the first axis of the coupling member.
Next, a conventional suture of the sort having a first end and a second end is attached to the coupling member's attachment means so that the suture is joined to the coupling member at the suture's first end and the suture's second end is left free.
The suture anchor and its attached suture together form a suture and suture anchor assembly.
(It is also to be appreciated that the suture and suture anchor assembly could be preassembled prior to loading the suture anchor into the installation tool, as will hereinafter be described in detail
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Obesity Surgery 
