Meniscal repair system and method
AssigneeArthrex, Inc.
InventorsReinhold Schmieding, R. D. Grafton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system and surgical methods for repairing tears in meniscal tissue using meniscal darts. In a preferred embodiment, the system includes a cannulated insertion sheath, a meniscal dart, and a disposable dart driver preloaded with a meniscal dart at its distal end. The insertion sheath is located near a meniscal tear, and sharp prongs on the tip of the sheath are used to secure and position the central fragment of the torn meniscus. The dart driver with a preloaded dart is advanced through the cannulation of the insertion sheath such that the preloaded meniscal dart at the distal end of the driver is inserted through the meniscal tear.
Claims11
A method for repairing a defect in a meniscus comprising the steps of:
- inserting a disposable, elongated, cannulated insertion sheath through an opening in tissue to a location near a torn meniscus;
- providing a disposable device driver, preloaded with a tissue repair device in the form of a dart at its distal end, the tissue repair device comprising an elongated body having a pointed distal tip, a proximal end provided with a protrusion having a truncated conical shape for matingly engaging the device driver, opposing lateral sides, a central axis, and a plurality of lateral grooves having a crescent shape and being disposed along each of the opposing lateral sides of the body, at least two of the lateral grooves having opposite orientations relative to the central axis, the grooves of the tissue repair device forming a regular repeating, longitudinally aligned, non-helical pattern on opposite lateral sides of the elongated body, the pattern on one lateral side of the elongated body being longitudinally offset from the pattern on the opposite lateral side of the body;
- matingly engaging the protrusion at the proximal end of the tissue repair device with a slit-tube at the distal tip of the device driver;
- and
- inserting the device driver with the tissue repair device engaged by the slit-tube through the cannulation of the insertion sheath, and advancing the device driver and the tissue repair device engaged by the slit-tube through the insertion sheath by using a thumb, such that the thumb directly contacts the proximal end of the device driver, and such that the tissue repair device exits the insertion sheath and is manually inserted and non-rotationally driven into the torn meniscus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.