The present invention relates generally to general surgery, bone anchor linking systems used for soft tissue anchoring. More specifically, but not exclusively, the present invention relates to biased locking anchor mechanisms and systems, as well as the surgical methods for using the biased locking anchor mechanisms and systems.
Often when a patient's bone is injured there is also soft tissue damage. The currently available fixes for soft tissue damage are not always secure and can lead to the soft tissue not healing properly. Thus, improved anchoring devices and methods are needed to allow for soft tissue repair of soft tissue surrounding or associated with soft tissue injuries.
Aspects of the present invention provide bone anchor linking systems, devices, implants, and methods for using the bone anchor linking systems, devices, and implants for anchoring soft tissue.
In one aspect, provided herein is a bone anchor linking method including inserting a first anchor into a first hole in the bone, wherein the first anchor comprises one or more sutures, forming a second anchor using the one or more sutures from the first anchor, inserting the second anchor into a second hole in the bone, and pulling at least one suture tail of the one or more sutures exiting the second anchor.
In another aspect, provided herein is a suture includes a body with a first end, a second end, and a length, wherein at least a portion of the body between the first end and the second end has a larger cross sectional area than the cross sectional area at the first end and the second end.
In yet another aspect, provided herein is an anchor includes a first body and a second body inserted into the first body with a weave pattern, wherein the weave pattern includes at least one first opening positioned along the length of the first body, at least one second opening positioned along the length of the first body and spaced apart in at least one direction from the at least one first opening, and wherein the second body is inserted into the at least one first opening, passes over an exterior surface of the first body, and is inserted into the at least one second opening.
These, and other objects, features and advantages of this invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the various aspects of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the detailed description herein, serve to explain the principles of the invention. The drawings are only for purposes of illustrating preferred embodiments and are not to be construed as limiting the invention. It is emphasized that, in accordance with the standard practice in the industry, various features are not drawn to scale. In fact, the dimensions of the various features may be arbitrarily increased or reduced for clarity of discussion. The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Generally stated, disclosed herein are bone anchor linking methods. Further, biased locking anchor mechanisms, devices, and implants for use in the bone anchor linking methods are discussed.
In this detailed description and the following claims, the words proximal, distal, anterior, posterior, medial, lateral, superior and inferior are defined by their standard usage for indicating a particular part of a bone or implant according to the relative disposition of the natural bone or directional terms of reference. For example, “proximal” means the portion of a device or implant nearest the torso, while “distal” indicates the portion of the device or implant farthest from the torso. As for directional terms, “anterior” is a direction towards the front side of the body, “posterior” means a direction towards the back side of the body, “medial” means towards the midline of the body, “lateral” is a direction towards the sides or away from the midline of the body, “superior” means a direction above and “inferior” means a direction below another object or structure.
Similarly, positions or directions may be used herein with reference to anatomical structures or surfaces. For example, the devices and methods, and the aspects, components, features and the like thereof, disclosed herein may be described with respect to one side of the body for brevity purposes. However, as the human body is relatively symmetrical or mirrored about a line of symmetry (midline), it is hereby expressly contemplated that the device and methods, and the aspects, components, features and the like thereof, described and/or illustrated herein may be changed, varied, modified, reconfigured or otherwise altered for use or association with another side of the body for a same or similar purpose without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used to indicate like or analogous components throughout the several views, and with particular reference to
Referring now to
Referring now to
The first body, sleeve 15, or fabric portion 16 may be made of a woven or braided fabric material of densely packed fibers of medical grade polymers. The medical grade polymers may be, for example, UHMWPE, polyester, PTFE, PEEK, nylon, or another medical grade woven polymer. The first body 15, 16 may have a generally rectangular outer profile, as shown in
In another embodiment, there is another body 15, 16 may have a mostly cylindrical cross section, which may have sutures 12 funneled through the central region. The sutures 12 may enter and leave the sleeve 15, 16 in various locations designed to deform the shape of the sleeve 15, 16 when the sutures 12 are tensioned. The other body 15, 16 has a length of, for example, approximately 4 mm to 80 mm, and preferably approximately 40 mm. The generally cylindrical diameter of the sleeve 15, 16 may be, for example, approximately 0.5 mm to 10 mm, and preferably approximately 2.5 mm. The cylindrical diameter will depend on the quantity and size of the mating assembly components.
The second elongated body or suture 12 may be, for example, one or more bodies or sutures made of a suture or suture like material. The second body 12 is passed through the first body 10, 30 in a specific pattern of entering and exiting the first body 10, 30. The specific pattern of the second body 12 causes the first body 10, 30 to fold onto itself. The specific pattern of the second body 12 also allows the second body 12 to slip when one suture limb 18a is pulled and locks or has a higher resistance to slipping when the opposite suture limb or limbs 18b is pulled. The ratio of slipping to not slipping may be, for example, approximately 1:2-1:20, more preferably approximately 1:2, 1:5, 1:10, 1:20. The ratio of slipping may be determined based on the weave pattern, material friction, texture, shape, and denier of the second body 12. The ratio of slipping will always be greater than 1:1 of the coefficient of friction and resistance to pulling force when comparing pulling one end of the sutures to the other. Thus, there will always be a bias to one of the ends 18a, 18b that are pulled. The second body 12 may have a perpendicular cross-sectional area that changes larger or smaller along the length of the suture limb 18a, 18b. More specifically, the suture 12 may have, for example, a smaller cross-sectional area at the ends 18a, 18b and may transition to a larger cross-sectional area towards the central region of the suture 12. In addition, the second body 12 may have a generally round, flat, rectangular, or square cross section. For a second body 12 with a round or square cross section, the cross section may be, for example, approximately 0.1 mm to 3 mm, more preferably approximately 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm. For a second body 12 with a rectangular cross section, the cross section may be, for example, approximately 0.05 mm to 5 mm, more preferably approximately 0.5 mm to 1.5 mm. The second body 12 may also transition from various cross-sectional shapes and sizes along the length of the body 12. In addition, the second body 12 has an overall longitudinal length of, for example, approximately 10″ to 100″ with a preferred length of approximately 50″.
The first body 15, 16 and second body 12 can be assembled to be used as a bone anchor or anchor assembly 10, 30 for securing soft tissue to bony anatomy during surgical procedures. The anchor assembly 10, 30 made from the first body 15, 16 and the second body 12 may use suture limbs 18a, 18b from a third body anchor assembly 10, 30 that is first placed in a bone 100. Next, the first and second body assemblies 15, 16, 12 may be put together by someone in the operating room during the surgical procedure. During an intraoperative assembly process suture shuttles or nitinol wires may be used to place the second body 12, or bodies, in the predefined locations within the first body 15, 16.
Referring now to
As shown in
In some embodiments, the suture 12 may have a varying cross-sectional area along its length, such as shown in
Another embodiment of a suture 12 is shown in
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As shown in
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As may be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the teachings herein, numerous changes and modifications may be made to the above-described and other embodiments of the present disclosure without departing from the scope of the disclosure. The devices, implants, and/or systems as disclosed in the specification, including the accompanying abstract and drawings, may be replaced by alternative component(s) or feature(s), such as those disclosed in another embodiment, which serve the same, equivalent or similar purpose as known by those skilled in the art to achieve the same, equivalent or similar results by such alternative component(s) or feature(s) to provide a similar function for the intended purpose. In addition, the devices, implants and systems may include more or fewer components or features than the embodiments as described and illustrated herein. Accordingly, this detailed description of the currently-preferred embodiments is to be taken in an illustrative, as opposed to limiting of the disclosure.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise” (and any form of comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any form of have, such as “has”, and “having”), “include” (and any form of include, such as “includes” and “including”), and “contain” (and any form of contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a method or device that “comprises,” “has,” “includes,” or “contains” one or more steps or elements possesses those one or more steps or elements, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more steps or elements. Likewise, a step of a method or an element of a device that “comprises,” “has,” “includes,” or “contains” one or more features possesses those one or more features, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more features. Furthermore, a device or structure that is configured in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.
The invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments. It will be understood that the architectural and operational embodiments described herein are exemplary of a plurality of possible arrangements to provide the same general features, characteristics, and general system operation. Modifications and alterations will occur to others upon a reading and understanding of the preceding detailed description. It is intended that the invention be construed as including all such modifications and alterations.
This application is a continuation of PCT/US2023/072692 filed on Aug. 23, 2023 and entitled Bone Anchor Linking Methods and Materials, which claims priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. provisional application No. 63/373,284 filed Aug. 23, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63373284 | Aug 2022 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/US2023/072692 | Aug 2023 | WO |
Child | 19061688 | US |