Suture fasteners

A surgical fastener system for fastening one or more sutures, the surgical fastener system comprising:

• (a) a surgical fastener instrument, which comprises:
• an outer delivery tube, which has a distal opening at a distal end of the outer delivery tube;
• an inner delivery shaft, which is disposed at least partially in the outer delivery tube;
• and
• a handle, which is coupled to a proximal portion of the outer delivery tube, and comprises a user control element arranged to rotate the inner delivery shaft with respect to the outer delivery tube;
• and
• (b) a suture fastener, which is removably disposed in the outer delivery tube in an unlocked conical helical configuration,
• wherein the surgical fastener instrument is arranged such that distal advancement of the inner delivery shaft, when one or more portions of the one or more sutures pass through respective portions of the suture fastener, transitions the suture fastener from the unlocked conical helical configuration to a locked planar spiral configuration, in which the one or more sutures are fixedly coupled to the suture fastener,
• wherein the outer delivery tube is shaped so as to define one or more lateral openings that extend to the distal end, and facilitate insertion of the one or more portions of the one or more sutures into the outer delivery tube and through the respective portions of the suture fastener, and
• wherein the surgical fastener instrument is configured such that when the suture fastener is removably disposed in the outer delivery tube in the unlocked conical helical configuration, and the one or more sutures are disposed partially within the outer delivery tube;
• rotation of the inner delivery shaft rotates the suture fastener, thereby causing the one or more portions of the one or more sutures to pass through the respective portions of the suture fastener.