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:
Jul. 17, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 04, 2000
Michael Braginsky, Newton, MA (US);
Joan P. Goldberg, Somerset, MA (US);
Genzyme Corporation, Cambridge, MA (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a suture package and packaging method which ensures rapid access to sutures, one at a time, from a suture package which is easy to handle and store. Each suture is readily located in an advantageous position in the package, to be grasped by a needle holder, without the possibility of pulling unwanted sutures from the package, or the need to fumble through a bunch of needles to ensure that a single suture is obtained. This is done by providing a suture package, comprising a panel or panels having an open window to expose the needles, and a plurality of raised support elements on at least one side of the panel, which elements support a suture in conjunction with the panel, the support elements being arranged to permit withdrawal of a suture from the package by pulling one end of the suture in a direction parallel to the plane of the panel. The needle window opening is located on the top edge of the package, exposing the needles in the opening, and showing the number of sutures available, as well as allowing access to the needles. Preferably, the suture package also employs at least one panel which has support elements for supporting sutures on each side of the panel. Preferably, the panels comprise separate needle window openings for the sutures on each side, and those needle window openings are separated from each other, so that the withdrawal of the suture will withdraw only one suture and in the assembled package, the windows on each panel line up with each other.