Many surgeries are performed using robotic technology, such as the DA VINCI® surgical system commonly used for laparoscopic surgeries. Surgical element carriers have been designed to include a housing that may be inserted through a surgical port during a surgery that can be manipulated during the surgery. For instance, a clam-shell type of housing of a surgical element carrier may be sized and dimensioned to contain surgical elements therein, such as sutures. Ends of the housing are designed such that they can be manipulated by a surgeon or by a robotic manipulator.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,986,780 B2 discloses a surgical element carrier and method for use. The surgical element carrier includes a housing dimensioned to contain therein surgical elements, and dimensioned for insertion through a surgical port used in minimally invasive surgeries. The housing further includes a first housing portion and a second housing portion movable relative to the first housing portion between a closed position wherein the surgical elements are substantially surrounded by the housing, and an open position where the surgical elements are at least partially exposed and removable from the housing.
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of medical devices, and in particular, to an apparatus for housing surgical elements, such as sutures, and methods of use and manufacture therefor.
Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale, with emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
The present disclosure may be understood more readily by reference to the following detailed description of the disclosure taken in connection with the accompanying drawing figures, which form part of this disclosure. It is also understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the specific devices, methods and conditions or parameters described and/or shown herein, and that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments by way of example only and is not intended to be limiting of the claimed invention. Also, as used in the specification including the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include the plural, and reference to a particular numerical value indicates at least that particular value, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Ranges may be expressed herein as from “about” or “approximately” one particular value and/or to “about” or “approximately” another particular value. When such a range is expressed, another embodiment includes from the one particular value and/or to the other particular value. Similarly, when values are expressed as approximations, by use of the antecedent “about,” it will be understood that the particular value forms another embodiment.
Today, existing surgical element carriers are only able to hold very flexible sutures as the sutures are prone to entanglement. As such, existing surgical element carriers are not able to retain barbed sutures or other sutures having non-uniform cross-sections. Otherwise, entanglement will occur prior to or during a surgical procedure. While spacers exist to provide spacing between sutures, such as those shown in
The surgical elements 120 may include a barbed suture, a silk suture, a 3-0 suture, non-bioabsorbable sutures, such as Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) suture, silk suture; nylon (Ethilon/Monosof [monofilament] and Nurolon/Surgilon [braided]), Polyester fiber (Mersilene/Surgidac [uncoated] and Ethibond/Ti-cron [coated]), Polybutester (Novafil), Coated polybutester (Vascufil), Polypropylene (Prolene), or Surgipro II; and bioabsorbable sutures such as polylactic acid (PLA) or polyglycolic acid (PGA) sutures, Polyglactin 910 (Vicryl), Polycaprolate (Dexon II), Poliglecaprone 25 (Monocryl), Polysorb, Polydioxanone (PDS II), Polytrimethylene carbonate (Maxon), V-Loc 90, V-Loc 180, Quill PDO, or Polyglytone 621 (Caprosyn). The sutures are available in different sizes such as 2-0 through 11-0 and 0 through 7; and different constructions such as monofilament, multifilament/braided, barbed, or barbed such as V-Loc, Quill, or Stratafix.
Referring now to
Referring again to
In various embodiments, the spacer 125 may further include a first aperture 150 on a first side of the spacer 125 having a circular shape, a second aperture 155 on a second side of the spacer 125 opposite that of the first side having a circular shape, a first notched portion 160 on a third side of the spacer 125 having a semi-circular shape, and a second notched portion 165 on a fourth side of the spacer 125 having a semi-circular shape. Other shapes, however, may be employed.
In some embodiments, small quantity of cut TYVEK® fragments are expected and acceptable. A quantity of cut TYVEK® fragments (hole slugs) may be minimized. Edges of the spacer 125 shall be cut cleanly, and angel-hair or stray fibers shall be minimized. In some embodiments, the spacers 125 may be packaged in bulk format, such that folded or crumpled parts shall be minimized. Additionally, the spacers 125 may be double-bagged.
Referring to
The suture side of the surgical element carrier 100 may be designed around the suture holder base 170. The suture holder base 170 is shown in
Assembling of the surgical element carrier 100 includes, for example, attaching foam to the suture holder base 170 in the locations shown in
In each case, surgical elements 120, such as sutures, are sandwiched, by themselves, between layers of spacers 125. They leave the spacer 125 at the ends where they go through their unique exit hole 175, and attach to their needle which is secured in the Foam block on the other side of the suture holder base 170. Through the design, they cannot interact with other sutures.
Turning now to
Accordingly, a method of manufacture is described, including forming a first housing portion and a second housing portion; forming a housing dimensioned for insertion through a surgical port used in a surgery by coupling the first housing portion and the second housing portion such that the second housing portion is movable relative to the first housing portion between a closed position and an open position; providing a spacer comprising a projecting portion extending from a side of the spacer; and positioning the spacer positioned between at least two of the plurality of surgical elements inside the housing, the spacer being folded to at least partially overlap one of the plurality of surgical elements positioned thereon.
Additionally, a method is described, including providing a surgical element carrier, comprising: a housing dimensioned for insertion through a surgical port during a surgery, the housing comprising a first housing portion and a second housing portion movable relative to the first housing portion between a closed position and an open position; a plurality of surgical elements in a stacked arrangement within the housing that are accessible when the surgical element carrier is in the open position; and a spacer having a spacer body, the spacer being positioned between at least two of the plurality of surgical elements, the spacer comprising a projecting portion extending from a side of the spacer, the projecting portion being folded over the spacer body to at least partially overlap one of the plurality of surgical elements positioned thereon.
The features, structures, or characteristics described above may be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner, and the features discussed in the various embodiments are interchangeable, if possible. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided in order to fully understand the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, a person skilled in the art will appreciate that the technical solution of the present disclosure may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or other methods, components, materials, and the like may be employed. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the present disclosure.
Although the relative terms such as “on,” “below,” “upper,” and “lower” are used in the specification to describe the relative relationship of one component to another component, these terms are used in this specification for convenience only, for example, as a direction in an example shown in the drawings. It should be understood that if the device is turned upside down, the “upper” component described above will become a “lower” component. When a structure is “on” another structure, it is possible that the structure is integrally formed on another structure, or that the structure is “directly” disposed on another structure, or that the structure is “indirectly” disposed on the other structure through other structures.
In this specification, the terms such as “a,” “an,” “the,” and “said” are used to indicate the presence of one or more elements and components. The terms “comprise,” “include,” “have,” “contain,” and their variants are used to be open ended, and are meant to include additional elements, components, etc., in addition to the listed elements, components, etc. unless otherwise specified in the appended claims. The terms “first,” “second,” etc. are used only as labels, rather than a limitation for a number of the objects.
The above-described embodiments of the present disclosure are merely possible examples of implementations set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiment(s) without departing substantially from the spirit and principles of the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.
This application claims priority to co-pending U.S. provisional application entitled, “Housing for Storing Sutures Therein, and Methods of Use Therefor,” having Ser. No. 63/181,400, filed Apr. 29, 2021, which is entirely incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63181400 | Apr 2021 | US |