Soft tissue repair
AssigneeSmith & Nephew, Inc.
InventorsMary Sinnott, Thomas W. Fallin, Kwan-Ho Chan, Patrick White
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods and instruments for repairing soft tissues of a skeletal joint such as for example of the foot or hand are presented.
Claims23
-36. (canceled)
A method of repairing soft tissue of a joint of a human extremity, the joint including a metapodial bone and a proximal phalanx, the extremity having volar and dorsal aspects, the method comprising:
- maintaining the metapodial bone intact;
- forming a bone tunnel through the proximal phalanx that extends from the volar aspect to the dorsal aspect of the proximal phalanx;
- passing a repair suture through the soft tissue to be repaired;
- passing the repair suture through the bone tunnel;
- and
- securing the suture;
- wherein the soft tissue to be repaired comprises a volar ligament.
A method of repairing soft tissue of a joint of a human extremity, the joint including a metapodial bone and a proximal phalanx, the extremity having volar and dorsal aspects, the method comprising:
- maintaining the metapodial bone intact;
- forming a bone tunnel through the proximal phalanx between volar and dorsal aspects of the proximal phalanx;
- passing a repair suture through the soft tissue to be repaired;
- passing the repair suture through the bone tunnel;
- and
- securing the suture;
- wherein the soft tissue to be repaired comprises a volar ligament and wherein forming a bone tunnel comprises forming a first bone tunnel between volar and dorsal aspects of the proximal phalanx at a location proximally adjacent to the medial side of the proximal phalanx and remote from a central location between the volar and dorsal aspects, and a second bone tunnel between volar and dorsal aspects of the proximal phalanx at a location proximally adjacent to the lateral side of the proximal phalanx and remote from the central location between the volar and dorsal aspects, and wherein passing the repair suture through the bone tunnel further comprises passing a first portion of a repair suture through the first bone tunnel and a second portion of a repair suture through the second bone tunnel.
A method of repairing soft tissue of a joint of a human extremity, the joint including a metapodial bone and a proximal phalanx, the extremity having volar and dorsal aspects, the method comprising:
- maintaining the metapodial bone intact;
- forming a bone tunnel through the proximal phalanx between volar and dorsal aspects of the proximal phalanx;
- passing a repair suture through the soft tissue to be repaired;
- passing the repair suture through the bone tunnel;
- and
- securing the suture;
- wherein the soft tissue to be repaired comprises a collateral ligament, the method further comprising after passing the repair suture through the soft tissue to be repaired and before passing the repair suture through the bone tunnel:
- passing the repair suture into a transverse ligament connecting adjacent metapodial bones of the extremity;
- wherein the metapodial bone is a metatarsal bone, the collateral ligament is of a human metatarsophalangeal joint, and the transverse ligament is a transverse metatarsal ligament;
- or
- wherein the metapodial bone is a metacarpal bone, the collateral ligament of a human metacarpophalangeal joint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.