System for cutting a suture to create tissue retainers of a desired shape and size
AssigneeQuill Medical, Inc.
InventorsPerry Genova, Robert C. Williams, III, Warren Jewett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for manufacturing self-retaining suture is disclosed. The system includes a cutting bed for creating and supporting a suture during cutting of tissue-grasping elements at different angular positions. A cutting device is moved through the suture thread along a path which can include longitudinal, transverse, oscillating and depth components to create a desired tissue-grasping element on the surface of the suture. The path of the cutting device and the rotation of the suture relative to the cutting device are controlled so that a plurality of angularly-displaced tissue-grasping elements can be created on the suture.
Claims20
An apparatus for creating tissue-grasping elements on a suture having a longitudinal axis comprising:
- a cutting bed adapted and configured to support a suture thread at a cutting position;
- a cutting device, the cutting device having a mechanically-constrained path along which the cutting device moves, the mechanically-constrained path selected such that the cutting device passes through a suture supported by the cutting bed at the cutting position to cut a tissue-grasping element having a desired configuration;
- and
- means for rotating the suture thread between operations of the cutting device whereby the apparatus is adapted to create a plurality of angled cuts of the desired configuration, at a plurality of angularly displaced positions on the suture thread.
An apparatus for creating angled cuts of a desired configuration on a suture having a longitudinal axis comprising:
- a cutting bed adapted and configured to support a suture thread at a cutting position;
- a cutting device, the cutting device having a preselected path along which the cutting device moves, the preselected path selected such that the cutting device passes through a suture thread supported by the cutting bed at the cutting position to create an angled cut having the desired configuration;
- and
- a support adapted to hold the suture, which support is rotatable in order to rotate the suture around the longitudinal axis whereby a plurality of tissue-grasping elements having the desired configuration can be created by the cutting device at a plurality of angularly displaced positions on the suture.
An apparatus for creating tissue-grasping elements on a suture thread having a longitudinal axis comprising:
- a cutting vise adapted and configured to support a suture thread at a cutting position;
- a cutting device, the cutting device having a preselected path along which the cutting device moves, the preselected path selected such that the cutting device passes through a suture supported by the cutting bed at the cutting position to cut a tissue-grasping element having a desired configuration;
- and
- a support adapted to hold the suture thread, which support is rotatable in order to rotate the suture thread around the longitudinal axis whereby a plurality of tissue-grasping elements having the desired configuration can be created by the cutting device at a plurality of angularly displaced positions on the suture thread.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.