American Cyanamid Company

Smith + Nephew

James W Dwyer

Jeffrey Cerier

Paul DiCarlo

Alan A Small

Gene P DiPoto

Russell F Warren

Gerard S Carlozzi

Joseph N Logan

Donald J Casey

Peter K Jarrett

John O Hayhurst

Louis Rosati

John A Conners

Felix F Esposito

Laurence Crainich

A suture anchor and anchor driver device for securely and accurately positioning and installing the suture anchor in place. The anchor has a rounded or pointed head and one or more ridges around it to help force fit the anchor into a hole and to hold it in place. A suture is positioned through the anchor for subsequent use during the surgical procedure. The driver device has a handle and an elongated shaft and is used to position and install the anchor in place. The anchor preferably snap fits onto the end of the shaft. A depth guide can be integrally or removably positioned on the shaft to ensure correct depth of placement. Alternately, the driver shaft is hollow and the anchor is positioned inside it and is implanted with a pusher member. The ends of the suture are affixed to the driver handle. Grooves can be provided on the driver and the anchor to prevent the suture from interfering with the positioning and installation procedure.

Suture anchor and drive assembly

A malleable, bioabsorbable polymeric staple includes a back span with two legs depending perpendicularly therefrom that are deformed toward each other initially and then upwardly toward the back span such that end points on each leg extends to the side and past the back span. The staple has a noncircular cross-sectional shape. A surgical staple-deforming anvil for deforming the staples has a staple-receiving face formed with a pair of elongated, non-collinear pocket-like depressions each having an entry end lying on a longitudinal axis parallel to the back span of the staple, and an exit end. The respective exit ends of the pocket depressions are located on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis. Accordingly, the legs of a staple driven toward the anvil and received in the pocket depressions are initially bent toward each other and then steered upwardly toward opposite sides of the back span.

Malleable, bioabsorbable, plastic staple; and method and apparatus for

A one piece surgical repair device consists essentially of a polymeric wire. The polymeric wire is comprised of an oriented, semicrystalline polymer. The surgical repair device can be a staple and is capable of permanent flexural deformation at ambient temperature.

Polymeric surgical staple

Suture anchor and driver assembly

A bone anchor (10) for securing a suture to a bone (38). The bone anchor (10) has a tip (16) at its distal end (18) and at least one resilient wall (27) extending to a trailing end (20) of the body (12) of the anchor. The wall (27) has a ridge (14), or barb, formed on an outer surface. The ridge (14) defines an edge (34) that digs into a hole (36) in the bone (38) in which it is positioned. A strand of suturing thread (22) extends through a suture receiving opening (24) in the tip (16) of the anchor. The method of the present invention employs the suture anchor (10) and includes the steps of forming a hole (36) in a bone (38) and inserting the suture anchor (10) to a desired depth in the hole (36) in the bone (38) using an inserter device (100). Suturing thread ( 22) extends from the suture receiving opening (24) in the tip and along the length of the walls (27,28) out of the hole (36) in the bone (38). An anchor spreader (130) is used to firmly seat the anchor (10) in the hole (36). The suture (22) is pulled at the same time to help seat the barbs 14 on the anchor (10) into the bone (38).

Bone anchor and method of anchoring a suture to a bone

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Brookfield, CT, United States of America

James W Dwyer