System for securing sutures, grafts and soft tissue to bone and periosteum

A method for surgically implanting a sling to provide support to an anatomical structure within a patient comprising the steps:

• a) providing an implantable sling comprising an elongate segment of material having first and second opposed ends, each respective opposed end having an anchor mechanism formed thereon such that each respective anchor mechanism is advanceable through said soft tissue at a selected target site in a first direction and resistant to movement in an opposite direction;
• b) providing a deployment mechanism for positioning said anchor mechanisms of said implantable sling within said target site of said soft tissue, said deployment mechanism comprising a manually operable handle having a deployment member extending distally therefrom, said deployment member being detachably fastenable to a respective one of said anchor mechanisms of said implantable sling;
• c) mounting a respective one of said anchor mechanisms of said implantable sling upon said distal end of said deployment member of said deployment mechanism;
• d) advancing said anchor mechanism mounted upon said distal end of said deployment member in step c) toward a site selected from the group consisting of a first target site about a first side of the obturator foramen, a first target site about the rectus fascia and a first target site about the pubocervical fascia of said patient and selectively detaching said anchor mechanism from said deployment member such that said anchor mechanism becomes embedded within a first mass of soft tissue;
• e) mounting the respective other anchor mechanism of said implantable sling upon said distal end of said deployment member and advancing said respective other anchor mechanism toward a site selected from the group consisting of a second target site about the respective other side of said obturator foramen, a second target site about the rectus fascia and a second target site about the pubocervical fascia, said second target sites being dissimilar to said first target sites, such that said segment of material is positioned to support the anatomical structure of said patient;
• and
• f) detaching said respective other anchor mechanism from said deployment member and embedding said anchor mechanism within a second mass of soft tissue such that said anchor mechanisms resist movement in the opposite direction and securely position said sling to support the anatomical structure of said patient.