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Shape memory filament for suture managementShape memory filament for suture management description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080086147, Shape memory filament for suture management. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001]The invention relates generally to surgical suture management and more specifically to a percutaneous suture management system and method, more specifically for suture fixation of tissue, through procedures such as for example open and arthroscopic surgeries. [0002]Arthroscopic suturing techniques and instruments have been developed in order to facilitate the suturing of tissue during arthroscopic surgical procedures. In arthroscopic surgery, access to a surgical work site within a patient's body is normally provided through one or more portals formed directly in the patient's body or through one or more cannulas inserted into the body of a patient through small incisions. A chosen surgical procedure is carried out by a surgeon through the use of elongated instruments inserted through these cannulas and it often becomes necessary to suture selected tissue at the surgical work site. [0003]Since the work site is only accessible through a small portal or cannula and since it is very difficult to tie sutures within the body, various devices and techniques have been developed to enable the surgeon to manipulate sutures arthroscopically. For example, some procedures enable the surgeon to pass suture material through selected tissue, form a surgical knot extracorporeally and then move the knot with a knot pusher through the portal or cannula into position adjacent the desired tissue to be sutured. Some cannula instruments used to pass the suture incorporate a hollow needle provided with some structure, often a wire loop, to guide the suture through the tissue pierced by the needle, with the needle extended through a cannula. It is known to use a non-metallic suture shuttle having loops on opposite ends for passing through the bore of a roller type suture passing device. In some cases, each loop of the suture shuttle includes a short leader portion in the form of a single strand monofilament for threading the suture shuttle through the bore of the elongated instrument. In other cases, the short leader portion is eliminated, and the surgeon must squeeze the leading loop together to insert the shuttle into the bore of the elongated instrument. [0004]These instruments are typically available for use exclusively through the cannula and because cannula placement locations are limited, the ability of a surgeon to place and tie each suture at optimum locations is constrained, both by placement of the cannula as well as limitations of working exclusively through the cannula when placing and tying each suture. For example, when working through a cannula or similar portal, a surgeon may have about forty degrees of freedom from a central axis of the portal in which to locate and place sutures. When it is necessary or desirable to locate sutures outside of this limit, then the surgeon must weigh the disadvantages of adding another portal/cannula in an appropriate location against the advantages of positioning the suture at the optimum location. Sometimes such a suture is not used or it is located sub-optimally because the disadvantages predominate. In instances in which it would be desirable to position or distribute sutures through a wide range of angles, it becomes impractical to use arthroscopic techniques due to the relatively large number of portals/cannulas that are required. [0005]A shape memory alloy (SMA) (also known as memory metal or smart wire) is a metal that remembers its geometry. After it is deformed, it regains its original geometry by itself during heating (one-way effect) or, at higher ambient temperatures, simply during unloading (pseudo-elasticity). Main types of SMA include copper-zinc-aluminum, copper-aluminum-nickel, and nickel-titanium (NiTi) alloys. NiTi alloys are generally more expensive and possess superior mechanical properties when compared to copper-based SMAs. The nickel-titanium alloys were first developed in 1962-1963 by the Naval Ordnance Laboratory and commercialized under the trade name Nitinol (an acronym for Nickel Titanium Naval Ordnance Laboratories). Metal alloys are not the only thermally responsive materials, as shape memory polymers have also been developed, having become commercially available in the late 1990's. There is another type of SMA called ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMA), that change shape under strong magnetic fields. These materials are of particular interest as the magnetic response tends to be quicker and more efficient than temperature-induced responses. Shape memory alloys are able to show an obviously elastic deformation behavior which is called Mechanical Shape Memory Effect or Superelasticity. This deformation can be as high as 20.times. of the elastic strain of steel. [0006]In surgery, percutaneous pertains to any medical procedure where access to inner organs or other tissue is done via a puncture or a piercing of the skin, rather than by using an "open" approach where inner organs or tissue are exposed (typically with the use of a scalpel or blade to make an incision) or through a cannula or other portal. [0007]What is needed is an apparatus, system, and method for enabling a surgeon to quickly and accurately position a suture at any desired location and optionally along a preferred suture pathway without undue constraint by cannula or other portal systems. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008]Disclosed is an apparatus, system, and method for percutaneous suture management system that enables an operator to quickly and accurately position a suture at any desired location and optionally along a preferred suture pathway without constraint by cannula or other portal systems. The apparatus includes a member of a rigid flexible elastic material, the member including a body portion and an aperture portion with the member adapted for delivery through an axial longitudinal channel of a percutaneous delivery subsystem, the aperture portion including an expanded mode having a lateral dimension greater than an inner diameter of the channel when the aperture portion extends outside the channel and a collapsed mode wherein the lateral dimension is not greater than the inner diameter of the channel when the aperture portion is within the channel, the channel including a first axial opening and a second axial opening with the aperture portion transitioning from the expanded mode to the collapsed mode when inserted into the openings and the aperture transitioning from the collapsed mode to the expanded mode when exiting from the openings. [0009]A system includes a percutaneous delivery subsystem including a tissue-penetrating member defining an axial longitudinal channel having an internal longitudinal cross-section with the channel including a first longitudinal opening and a second longitudinal opening; and a member of a rigid flexible elastic material, the member including a body portion and an aperture portion with the member adapted for delivery through the axial longitudinal channel, the aperture portion including an expanded mode having a lateral dimension greater than a greatest width of the internal longitudinal cross-section when the aperture portion extends outside the channel and a collapsed mode wherein the lateral dimension is not greater than the greatest width of the channel when the aperture portion is within the channel, with the aperture portion transitioning from the expanded mode to the collapsed mode when inserted into the openings and the aperture transitioning from the collapsed mode to the expanded mode when exiting from the openings. [0010]A method includes a) installing a suture anchor with an attached suture strand in a portion of body adjacent a section of tissue to be secured within a body; b) piercing percutaneously the tissue with a sharp distal end of a spinal needle having a channel extending from the sharp distal end to a proximal end outside the body; c) inserting a member into an end of the spinal needle, the member including a body portion and an aperture portion with the member adapted for delivery through the channel, the aperture portion including an expanded mode having a lateral dimension greater than an inner diameter of the channel when the aperture portion extends outside the channel and a collapsed mode wherein the lateral dimension is not greater than the inner diameter of the channel when the aperture portion is within the channel, the aperture portion transitioning from the expanded mode to the collapsed mode when inserted into the ends and the aperture transitioning from the collapsed mode to the expanded mode when exiting from the ends; d) deploying the aperture portion from the sharp distal end; e) capturing the suture strand with the aperture portion; and f) passing the captured suture strand through the tissue by retracting the aperture portion through the tissue. A method for repairing a superior labrum anterior to posterior tear includes a) installing a posterior portal into a shoulder proximate the superior labrum; b) installing a suture anchor at about a forty-five degree angle into a glenohumeral joint of the shoulder, the suture anchor including at least one suture; c) inserting percutaneously a needle into the shoulder, the needle adjacent a lateral acromion and passing through a supraspinutas tendon of the shoulder; d) introducing a suture transport into the glenohumeral joint through a channel of the needle; e) coupling the suture to the suture transport; and f) extracting the suture transport from the shoulder to extend the suture from the anchor outside the shoulder through the supraspinutas tendon. [0011]Embodiments of the present invention for suture transports are simpler and more efficient than conventional systems for not only passing, delivering, and installing sutures but also to define suture paths through multiple tissue types and/or structures in multiple discrete steps or in one successive procedure as determined by the operator. Embodiments may require fewer portals while providing for a greater angular access area around a portal using small diameter percutaneous piercers that cause less overall trauma and reductions in local trauma, thus promoting quicker and lower risk recoveries. [0012]Systems of the preferred embodiment also enable new procedures while simplifying other procedures as additional uses and applications for the structures are implemented. For example, one preferred embodiment includes a single portal SLAP repair. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0013]FIG. 1 is a suture transport adapted for percutaneous use according to an embodiment of the present invention; [0014]FIG. 2 is a first alternate embodiment of the suture transport shown in FIG. 1; [0015]FIG. 3 is a second alternate embodiment of the suture transport shown in FIG. 1; [0016]FIG. 4 is a third alternate embodiment of the suture transport shown in FIG. 1; [0017]FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are a sequence of figures illustrating a percutaneous delivery subsystem piercing a portion of a human body (e.g., a shoulder) to deliver one of the suture transports (e.g., the transport of FIG. 1) described herein; [0018]FIG. 5 illustrates a suture transport shown in FIG. 1 used with a percutaneous delivery subsystem; [0019]FIG. 6 illustrates a suture transport extending outside the channel of the spinal needle puncturing the skin portion of a human body, with the aperture of the suture transport shown in the expanded mode; [0020]FIG. 7 through FIG. 10 are a detailed sequence of figures illustrating results of use of a percutaneous delivery subsystem piercing a portion of a human body (e.g., a shoulder) to deliver one of the suture transports (e.g., the transport of FIG. 1) described herein; [0021]FIG. 7 illustrates a portion of a shoulder including installation of a suture anchor into a bone of the shoulder near a desired location for a repair of a capsular tissue portion, the suture anchor including four suture strands; Continue reading about Shape memory filament for suture management... Full patent description for Shape memory filament for suture management Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Shape memory filament for suture management patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Shape memory filament for suture management or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Assemblies for deploying fasteners in tissue and snares for use in such assemblies Next Patent Application: Retrieval snare for extracting foreign objects from body cavities and method for manufacturing thereof Industry Class: Surgery ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Shape memory filament for suture management patent info. 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