The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 21, 2026
Filed:
Jul. 25, 2023
The United States of America, As Represented BY the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD (US);
Vladimir R. Khristov, Washington, DC (US);
Steven T. Charles, Memphis, TN (US);
Juan A. Amaral, Silver Spring, MD (US);
Arvydas Maminishkis, Washington, DC (US);
Kapil Bharti, Bethesda, MD (US);
Abstract
A surgical clamp for aligning the margins of incised or wounded tissue has jaws with parallel clamping faces, and a handle for manipulating the clamp to align the margins of the tissue. The jaws are in a normally closed position, however they can be opened by compressing the handle to open the jaws. Prongs project from the inferior surface of the jaws. The clamp is positioned in a desired position over the margins of a wound to be closed, the prongs engage the margins of the wound to be aligned, and the jaws are closed by releasing compressive force on the handle. As the jaws close the prongs help move the tissue into alignment. Suture guide slots through the jaws assist in the placement of precisely placed sutures across the incision. The disclosed surgical clamp is particularly suited for selectively closing and reopening surgical incisions, such as a sclerotomy incision in the eye. Methods are disclosed for using the clamp during intraocular and other surgical or minimally invasive procedures. In one example the clamp is used during implantation into the retina of a scaffold on which choroid and retinal pigment epithelium cells and retina grow in a three-dimensional matrix that mimics the native structure of the retina.