Wound closure system
AssigneeWound Care Technologies, Inc.
InventorsRobert C. Wilke, Paul J. Anderson, Douglas Duchon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wound closure system and a method of reducing the size of an open wound are disclosed. A suture line is sutured through body tissue adjacent an open wound, the suture line sutured so as to pass into the body tissue at an entry point and exit at an exit point, the suture line including a plurality of barbs extending outwardly at an acute angle with respect to a surface of the suture line. A biasing member applies a continuous pulling force on the suture line for stretching the body tissue toward the open wound, wherein the biasing member is configured to take up any slack of the suture line during stretching of the body tissue and keep the suture line taut.
Claims20
A wound closure system comprising:
- a suture line configured to surround a wound, the suture line including a plurality of barbs extending outwardly with respect to a surface of the suture line;
- and
- a tensioning mechanism having a biasing member and a knob, wherein the biasing member is configured to apply tension on the suture line, and the knob is configured to load and unload the biasing member.
A method of reducing a size of an open wound by pulling body tissue adjacent the open wound toward or over the open wound, the method comprising:
- passing a suture line into the body tissue at an entry point and exit at an exit point, the suture line including a plurality of barbs extending outwardly with respect to a surface of the suture line;
- and
- providing a tensioning mechanism having a biasing member that continuously applies tension on the suture line thereby taking up slack of the suture line while stretching the body tissue toward or over the open wound.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.