The present disclosure relates to suture passer devices, and more particularly, to suture passer devices including a blunt tip and a sharp tip.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Various devices and methods are known for suturing soft tissue in connection with arthroscopic, endoscopic, or other surgical procedures. These and other small-incision or less invasive surgical procedures generally require that suturing and the associated manipulation of suturing are performed in confined areas which are not easily accessible.
Although the existing devices can be satisfactory for their intended purposes, there is still a need for procedures and devices that provide greater control in the passage of sutures, greater control in the passage of delicate sutures, and increased flexibility in the types and thicknesses of tissues that can be sutured in ordinary and in less invasive procedures.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
The present disclosure describes a suture passer device that includes a handle, a shaft extending from the handle, and a suture carrier secured to the handle and moveable through a distal end of the shaft. According to one aspect of the present disclosure, one of the shaft and the suture carrier includes a sharp tip and the other one of the shaft and the suture carrier includes a blunt tip. According to another aspect of the present disclosure, the suture carrier includes an inner tube extending through the shaft and a flexible arm extending through the inner tube. Methods of using a suture passer device are also disclosed.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Suture passer devices can be used to pass a suture around soft tissue or through soft tissue. Typically, a suture passer device either has a sharp tip to pierce a hole in soft tissue or a blunt tip to avoid damaging the soft tissue. However, a suture passer device according to the principles of the present disclosure can be transformed from having a blunt tip to have a sharp tip and vice versa. Thus, the suture passer device can be used to pass a suture around soft tissue without damaging the soft tissue and to pass a suture through soft tissue by piercing a hole in the soft tissue.
In one example, a suture passer device according to the principles of the present disclosure includes an outer tube or shaft and an inner tube that can be extended out of the outer tube and retracted into the outer tube. The outer tube can have a blunt tip and the inner tube can have a sharp tip so that extending the inner tube out of the outer tube transforms the suture passer device from having a blunt tip to having a sharp tip. Alternatively, the inner tube can have a blunt tip and the outer tube can have a sharp tip so that extending the inner tube out of the outer tube transforms the suture passer device from having a sharp tip to having a blunt tip.
In another example, the inner tube can define a notch or opening adjacent to its distal end for retaining a suture. In addition, the suture passer device can include a flexible arm that can be extended through the opening in the inner tube to grab a suture using, for example, a notch defined in the flexible arm adjacent to its distal end. The flexible arm can then be retracted into the inner tube to fix the suture within the inner tube.
Referring now to
The outer tube 14 extends from the handle 20 along the longitudinal axis X and has a proximal end 32 and a distal end or tip 34. The proximal end 32 of the outer tube 14 can be fixed to the distal end 28 of the handle 20 using, for example, a press or interference fit, a threaded connection, and/or adhesive. The distal tip 34 of the outer tube 14 can be blunt (e.g., flat, rounded), as shown, to avoid damaging tissue, or the distal tip 34 can be sharp (e.g., conical) to pierce tissue. The outer tube 14 defines a channel 36 (
The inner tube 16 extends through the outer tube 14 along the longitudinal axis X and has a proximal end 40 (
The outer and inner tubes 14, 16 can be cylindrical, as shown, or the outer and inner tubes 14, 16 can have another suitable shape such as rectangular cuboids. In this regard, the outer and inner tubes 14, 16 may be referred to more generally as outer and inner members, respectively. The outer and inner tubes 14, 16 can be formed from metal. In addition, although the outer and inner tubes 14, 16 are depicted as straight cylinders, in various implementations, the outer and inner tubes 14, 16 may be curved or bent.
The flexible arm 18 extends through the inner tube 16 along the longitudinal axis X and has a proximal end 48 (
The trigger 22 can be pulled toward the proximal end 26 of the handle 20 to actuate the inner tube 16 from its retracted position (
The slide button 24 can be moved toward the distal end 28 of the handle 20 to actuate the flexible arm 18 from its retracted position (
Referring now to
The trigger 22 can include a head 62 that engages the washer 58 as the trigger 22 is applied to actuate the inner tube 16 from its retracted position to its extended position. When the trigger 22 is released, the coil spring 60 moves the inner tube 16 proximally from its extended position to its retracted position. In turn, the distal tip 42 of the inner tube 16 retracts within the channel 36 in the outer tube 14, and the suture passer device 10 is thereby transformed from having a sharp distal tip to having a blunt distal tip.
The trigger 22 can be pivotally coupled to the handle 20 using a pin 64. The trigger 22 and the pin 64 can be integrally formed from, for example, plastic. Alternatively, the trigger 22 and the pin 64 can be formed separately from, for example, plastic and metal, respectively.
With additional reference to
The proximal end 48 of the flexible arm 18 can include ears 76. The slide button 24 can define a pocket 78 for receiving the ears 76 and an opening 80 that extends through a bottom surface 82 of the slide button 24 to the pocket 78. A width W2 of the pocket 78 can be larger than a width W3 of the ears 76, and a width W4 of the opening 80 can be smaller than the width W3 of the ears 76. Thus, as the ears 76 are inserted through the opening 80, the ears 76 may flex inward until the ears 76 are received in the pocket 78. The ears 76 may then relax such that the ears 76 are captured within the pocket 78, thereby securing the proximal end 48 of the flexible arm 18 to the slide button 24 such that the button 24 can be used to extend or retract the arm 18.
Referring now to
After the suture 84 is inserted into the suture eyelet, the distal tip 34 of the outer tube 14 can be inserted through a pre-existing separation or opening 86 between soft tissue 88 and bone 90. The opening 86 may be formed due to a tear in the soft tissue 88, and/or the opening 86 may be formed using an instrument, such as forceps, to separate the soft tissue 80 from the bone 90. Since the distal tip 34 of the outer tube 14 is blunt and the sharp distal tip 42 of the inner tube 16 is retracted within the outer tube 14, the soft tissue 88 is not damaged as the distal tip 34 is inserted through the opening 86. In one example, the soft tissue 88 is a labrum, and the bone 90 is an acetabulum or a glenoid. The soft tissue 88 may be separated from the bone 90, and the suture passer device 10 may be used to pass the suture 84 around and through the soft tissue 88 to reattach the soft tissue 88 to the bone 90.
After the distal tip 34 of the outer tube 14 is inserted through the opening 86 between soft tissue 88 and bone 90, the distal tip 42 of the inner tube 16 can be extended through the distal tip 34 of the outer tube 14, as shown in
The inner tube 16 can be maintained in its extended position after the distal tips 34, 42 of the outer and inner tubes 14, 16 are withdrawn through the opening 86 between the soft tissue 88 and the bone 90. The distal tip 42 of the inner tube 16 can then be inserted through the soft tissue 88 as shown in
Once the suture 84 is positioned in the notch 52 in the flexible arm 18, the flexible arm 18 can be retracted into the inner tube 16 as shown in
The suture 84 can then be inserted through a bone anchor 94, and the anchor 94 can be fixed within the bone 90 using, for example, threads 96 on the anchor 94, as shown in
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
5085661 | Moss | Feb 1992 | A |
5281237 | Gimpelson | Jan 1994 | A |
5439467 | Benderev | Aug 1995 | A |
5499991 | Garman | Mar 1996 | A |
5562683 | Chan | Oct 1996 | A |
5562687 | Chan | Oct 1996 | A |
5676675 | Grice | Oct 1997 | A |
5776151 | Chan | Jul 1998 | A |
5817111 | Riza | Oct 1998 | A |
5904692 | Steckel | May 1999 | A |
6102920 | Sullivan | Aug 2000 | A |
6629984 | Chan | Oct 2003 | B1 |
6893448 | O'Quinn | May 2005 | B2 |
20070038230 | Stone | Feb 2007 | A1 |
20090018554 | Thorne | Jan 2009 | A1 |
20110071551 | Singhatat | Mar 2011 | A1 |
20120123448 | Flom | May 2012 | A1 |
20120143224 | Chan | Jun 2012 | A1 |
20130116710 | Ziniti et al. | May 2013 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20150094739 A1 | Apr 2015 | US |