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:
Mar. 02, 2004
Filed:
May. 24, 2001
Joseph H. Sklar, Longmeadow, MA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A method and apparatus of making repairs with graft ligaments. In one form, the method for graft ligament reconstruction comprises (i) harvesting a graft ligament consisting entirely of soft tissue; (ii) compacting the graft ligament through compression so as to significantly reduce the cross-sectional area and increase the density of the collagen material of the graft ligament; and (iii) deploying the compressed graft ligament in the human body. In another form, the apparatus for graft ligament reconstruction comprises a graft ligament having a given diameter and a given cross-sectional area; and a compacting instrument having at least one surface to contact the graft ligament and to decrease the given cross-sectional area of the graft ligament to a reduced cross-sectional area, whereby the graft ligament with the decreased cross-sectional area may be positioned within a bone tunnel having a cross-sectional area smaller than the given cross-sectional area of the graft ligament in its original state.