Methods of making reinforced soft grafts with suture loop/needle construct
AssigneeArthrex, Inc.
InventorsJames J. Guerra, Jacob A. Jolly, Dustin T. Libby, Thomas M. Deberardino
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Surgical constructs and methods for tissue to bone repair employing a tissue construct reinforced with a reinforcement (reinforcing) material such as suture, tape, weave or mesh, among many others. The reinforced construct preferably includes a stitched reinforced region formed by employing a suture loop construct with a free floating needle that is attached to the suture loop, and also with a piece of material (a reinforcement or reinforcing material) attached to the suture loop. The reinforced construct may be attached to any fixation device and/or any bone tunnel.
Claims9
A method of reinforcing a biological construct, comprising:
- positioning a reinforcement material relative to a graft;
- whipstitching the reinforcement material to the graft using a suture loop/needle construct to form a reinforced graft construct, the suture loop/needle construct including a continuous suture loop;
- attaching the reinforced graft construct to a suture loop/button construct to form an assembly, wherein the suture loop/needle construct is attached to the reinforcement material prior to the positioning step and the continuous suture loop of the suture loop/needle construct is either swedged or knotted to the reinforcement material prior to the positioning step;
- and
- utilizing the assembly as part of an ACL reconstruction.
A method of reinforcing a biological construct, comprising:
- positioning a reinforcement material relative to a graft;
- whipstitching the reinforcement material to the graft using a suture loop/needle construct to form a reinforced graft construct, the suture loop/needle construct including a continuous suture loop;
- attaching the reinforced graft construct to a suture loop/button construct to form an assembly;
- utilizing the assembly as part of an ACL reconstruction;
- and
- wherein the whipstitching step includes:
- passing the suture loop/needle construct through the reinforcement material and the graft multiple times to create multiple stitches in the reinforcement material and the graft;
- and
- after the last pass of the suture loop/needle construct through the graft, passing one limb of the continuous suture loop through each side of the graft.
A method of reinforcing a biological construct, comprising:
- positioning a reinforcement material relative to a graft;
- whipstitching the reinforcement material to the graft using a suture loop/needle construct to form a reinforced graft construct, the suture loop/needle construct including a continuous suture loop:
- attaching the reinforced graft construct to a suture loop/button construct to form an assembly;
- utilizing the assembly as part of an ACL reconstruction;
- and
- wherein the attaching step includes:
- looping the reinforced graft construct over a suture loop of the suture loop/button construct.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.