Method of loading tendons into the knee
AssigneeArthrex, Inc.
InventorJeffery M. Whelan
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A surgical method for loading ligament grafts into a joint. A longitudinal socket formed in a bone is intersected by a transverse pin. A flexible strand is drawn with the pin through the bone. A looped portion of the strand is diverted so as to protrude out of the entrance to the longitudinal socket. The ends of the strand remaining accessible on either side of the bone. The ligament graft is captured within the strand loop protruding from the entrance to the socket. The strand is retracted into the socket, drawing the graft into the socket by pulling on the accessible ends of the flexible strand. The graft is fixed in the socket using a transverse implant.
Claims12
A method of surgery, comprising:
- forming a hole in a bone, the hole having an entrance;
- intersecting the hole with a flexible strand positioned transverse to the hole;
- diverting a portion of the strand out through the hole entrance;
- engaging a graft with the diverted portion of the strand;
- and
- pulling a portion of the graft with the strand into the hole.
A surgical method, comprising the steps of:
- forming a hole in bone, the hole having an entrance;
- inserting a hook having an eye into the hole;
- drilling a guide pin through the bone so as to intersect the socket, the guide pin passing through the eye of the hook;
- drawing a wire through the bone using the guide pin;
- diverting a loop in the wire out through the entrance to the hole using the hook;
- capturing a tendon graft with the loop in the wire;
- retracting the wire so as to draw the graft into the hole;
- and
- securing the graft within the hole.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.