Abstract: A swaging system for attaching surgical needles to sutures and testing the attachment strength includes a bottom swaging die and a top swaging die that is configured to move up and down along a swaging axis that is in alignment with the bottom swaging die. The bottom swaging die includes a swaging tool mounted thereon that extends toward the top swaging die along the swaging axis. The swaging tool includes an upper end having a top surface with a swaging notch for swaging a needle to a suture to form an armed surgical needle, and a testing notch, adjacent the swaging notch, for conducting a pull test on the armed surgical needle.

Abstract: An implant to be fastened to a tissue, a tool a kit and a method. The implant has a first end, a second end and an elongated shank made in part from a first polymer material. The implant includes a contact surface for receiving external mechanical energy for deforming the shape of the implant such that the shape of the implant can be deformed and locked in the tissue by the effect of the external mechanical energy.

Abstract: Medical delivery devices include a needle and a flexible compressible impermeable tube attached to the needle. The compressible tube has an open interior channel. The device is adapted to releasably hold a length of a medical implant in the open interior channel of the tube. The medical implant can be slidably inserted into the interior channel of the tube and is loosely held by the tube.

Abstract: Methods and devices are provided for securing tissue to bone. In general, a suture leader can have leading and trailing ends, and an inner passageway configured to receive a strand of suture therein. More specifically, the trailing end of the leader can be configured to receive the strand of suture therein to form an overlapping region of suture leader and suture. When the suture is positioned in the leader, an outer diameter of the leading end of the leader can be less than an outer diameter of the over lapping region. The leader can have a lower bending stiffness than the suture so that the leader can be more easily folded into a bend. In certain aspects, the suture leader can be formed from a substantially flexible, braided material so that the leader can be configured to contract when a pulling force is applied to the leader. In another embodiment, the suture leader can have a pre-formed crease configured to mate with a threading tool.

Abstract: A surgical needle including a jam cleat for preventing slippage of suture. The jam cleat includes a suture engaging V-shaped tapered groove having opposing side walls that meet at a jam point.

Abstract: Tissue augmentation devices, as well as methods of manufacturing and using the same, are disclosed. In certain embodiments, a tissue augmentation device comprises an elongate tissue penetrating member and an amount of remodelable material, wherein at least a portion of the elongate member is cannulated, and at least a portion of the amount of material is received within at least a portion of the cannulated portion of the elongate member. The elongate tissue penetrating member may provide at least one deformation that is configured to constrict portions of the amount of remodelable material received within the elongate member. In alternate embodiments, a flexible covering over an implantable biomaterial provides protection and allows an easier delivery of the biomaterial to a tissue tract.

Abstract: Devices, systems, and methods for suturing of body lumens allow the suturing of vascular puncture sites located at the distal end of a percutaneous tissue tract. An elongated articulated foot near a distal end of a shaft is inserted through the penetration and actuated so that the foot extends along the lumenal axis. The foot carries suturing attachment cuffs, and needles are advanced from the shaft through the vessel wall outside of the penetration and into engagement with the needle cuffs after the foot has been drawn proximally up against the endothelial surface of the blood vessel. The cross-section of the shaft within the tissue tract can be minimized by laterally deflecting the needles as they leave the shaft, while tapered depressions within the foot can guide the advancing needles into engagement with the cuffs. The cuffs lockingly engage the needles and can be withdrawn proximally along the needle paths and through the tissue tract so as to form a loop of suture across the puncture.

Abstract: Tissue augmentation devices, as well as methods of manufacturing and using the same, are disclosed. In certain embodiments, a tissue augmentation device comprises an elongate tissue penetrating member and an amount of remodelable material, wherein at least a portion of the elongate member is cannulated, and at least a portion of the amount of material is received within at least a portion of the cannulated portion of the elongate member. The elongate tissue penetrating member may provide at least one deformation that is configured to constrict portions of the amount of remodelable material received within the elongate member. In alternate embodiments, a flexible covering over an implantable biomaterial provides protection and allows an easier delivery of the biomaterial to a tissue tract.

Abstract: A fixturing assembly is provided that includes a needle and a fixturing device. The needle includes a first sharpened end and a second end including a can. The fixturing device includes an elongate filament having first and second ends, and an enlarged fixturing device on the first end of the filament. The second end of the filament is held by the can by frictional resistance, the second end of the filament being removable from the can when a tensile force is applied between the needle and the second end of the filament that exceeds the frictional resistance. For example, the can may include a coil, corrugations, or a roughened inner surface to removably hold the end of the fixturing device.

Abstract: A surgical device is provided for use in joining a first tissue layer forming a first hollow region and a second tissue layer forming a wall of a second hollow region, to produce an anastomosis. The device comprises a needle capable of passing from the first region to the second region by penetrating the tissue layers, a tag removably carried by the needle, the tag having a trailing portion, and means for separating the tag from the needle after the needle has penetrated both layers, to leave the tag in the second hollow region, but with the trailing portion extending into the first hollow region. Anastomosis forming articles are described which comprise a pair of components for compressing the tissue layers between them.

Abstract: A surgical instrument for introducing a support strand into the body to treat female urinary incontinence has an elongated, curved shaft with a distal end insertable into the body. The shaft has a lumen therein extending at least a portion of the length of the shaft through which the support strand may pass in an axial direction. The shaft has a slot on an exterior surface thereof communicating with the lumen allowing the support strand to be laterally passed between the lumen to a position outside the shaft. A pointed element, is removably positionable on the distal end of the shaft for facilitating the insertion of the shaft through the body and is connectable at one end to the support strand. The pointed element may either be swaged directly to the strand or be in the form of an elongated needle with an eye to which the strand is removably attached. In an associated method, the shaft sequentially delivers the pointed element through the body twice, forming a loop around the urethra to relieve incontinence.

Abstract: A method of introducing continuous lengths of filament into the body in surgical procedures in which it is desirable to place a significant amount of material into the body through a small portal. The material so introduced may serve to bulk a tissue or cavity of the body or to occlude a vas, as well as to introduce diagnostic or therapeutic agents into a site in the body. A device for implementing the method has a mechanism for feeding the filament through a conduit in such a manner that sufficient force is applied to the filament that it is forced into the desired site. In one embodiment, a system of reciprocating cannulae and synchronized grippers is used to supply the requisite force to the filament.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a one-handed hypodermic syringe comprising the renovated structure that allows users to push and pull the syringe by one hand. The medical personnel may place their thumbs inside the ring disposed in the distal end of the plunger, and press the concave objects disposed in the distal end of the barrel by their index fingers and middle fingers, thereby hold the syringe steadily and manipulate pull-push action of the injection with one hand. The present invention is designed to enhance the convenience for the medical personnel's use of hypodermic syringe.

Abstract: The surgical suturing assembly of the present invention protects a user from accidental puncture wounds. A surgical needle is contained within a rigidly-walled protective casing, having a proximate end defining a first aperture through which the needle is inserted. The casing tapers distally to define a second aperture for passage and limiting protrusion of the sharp tip of the needle. The casing defines a pair of openings near the distal end, through which openings the needle shaft is exposed when the sharp tip extends through the second aperture. Upon insertion of the needle, the casing is plugged by a suture guide that engages the first aperture, the suture guide having an eye for threading onto the suturing thread. When plugged, the suture guide functions to slidingly retain a needle within the casing. In use, a surgeon grasps the suturing needle assembly where the exposed section of the needle shaft contacts the casing.

Abstract: A method for producing a detachable surgical needle-suture combination of the type incorporating a fluid swellable suture material is capable of producing needle-suture attachments which conform to the prescribed minimum pull-out forces for detachable needle-suture combinations as set forth in the U.S. Pharmacopeia. Generally, the method includes the steps of providing a surgical needle and a fluid swellable suture, immersing an end portion of the suture into a liquid solution whereby the suture end portion swells and assumes an expanded condition, positioning the suture end portion in its expanded condition into an aperture formed in the blunt end of the needle and swaging the blunt end of the needle to cause deformation of at least a portion of the blunt end and engagement with the suture end portion to effect needle-suture attachment.

Abstract: A double needle ligature device for efficiently creating a loop suture for closing wounds, such as trocar wounds. The device preferrably includes a double rod-in-needle assembly to ensure that the suture is positively held in place during needle retraction.

Abstract: A combined surgical needle-suture device is provided by attaching the reduced shank of a needle and the tip region of a suture to each other through a heat shrinkable tubing fitted around both, the axial length of the tubing bearing a defined relationship to the effective axial length of the needle shank. In the preferred detachable needle-suture device, a removal interface having a predetermined axial length and/or contact area is defined between a shrinkable tubing having a predetermined axial length and a suture tip region.

Abstract: A combined surgical needle-suture device of controlled suture release characteristics and a method for manufacturing the device employ a shrinkable tubing to connect the needle to a suture possessing a lubricated tip.

Abstract: A surgical needle is attached to a braided suture of particular construction to provide a combined surgical needle-braided suture device. A shrinkable tubing is employed to secure the needle to the suture. The tubing shrinks in response to the application of energy, e.g., heat. Attachment parameters may be controlled to provide standard needle attachment or removable needle attachment.

Abstract: A combined surgical needle-suture device of controlled suture release characteristics and a method for manufacturing the device employ a shrinkable tubing and a bonding agent to attach the needle to the suture.

Abstract: A surgical needle is attached to a spiroid braided suture to provide a combined surgical needle-spiroid braided suture device. A shrinkable tubing is employed to secure the needle to the suture. The tubing shrinks in response to the application of energy, e.g., heat. Attachment parameters may be controlled to provide standard needle attachment or removable needle attachment.

Abstract: A method for needle-suture attachment and needle-suture combinations are provided. A shrinkable tubing is employed to secure the needle to the suture. The tubing shrinks in response to heat. Suture materials which are heat labile are desensitized prior to tubing attachment to preserve the integrity of the suture material. Attachment parameters may be controlled to provide standard needle attachment or removable needle attachment.

Abstract: A combined surgical needle-suture device and a method for manufacturing the device employ a shrinkable tubing to connect the needle to a suture possessing a weakened segment. Separation of the needle from the suture is achieved by providing a weakened suture segment and applying a rupturing force to the suture within a predetermined range.

Abstract: A combined surgical needle-suture device of controlled suture release characteristics and a method for manufacturing the device employ a shrinkable tubing and a suture having an expandable tip region to connect the needle to the suture.

Abstract: A needle-suture combination with reduced diameter portion of the suture being attached to the blunt end of the needle. The maximum diameter of the suture being almost the same but no larger than the diameter of the blunt end of the needle and the reduced diameter portion of the suture having a tensile strength greater than the remainder of the suture.

Abstract: A combined surgical needle-suture device of controlled suture release characteristics and a method for manufacturing the device employ a shrinkable tubing and a bonding agent to attach the needle to the suture.

Abstract: A combined surgical needle-suture device of controlled suture release characteristics and a method for manufacturing the device employ a shrinkable tubing to connect the needle to the suture. The tip of the suture which is connected to the needle possesses a reduced cross section relative to the remainder of the suture, such reduced cross section being capable of rupture by applying an amount of force therto, e.g., a sharp tug, within a predetermined range thus effecting needle separation.

Abstract: A combined surgical needle-suture device of controlled suture release characteristics and a method for manufacturing the device employ a shrinkable tubing to connect the needle to the suture. A tensioning force is applied to the device to bring the average force required for the release of the needle from its attached suture to within a predetermined range of average pull-out force.

Abstract: Attachment of a surgical needle to a suture to provide a combined surgical needle-suture device employs a shrinkable tubing possessing a suture cutting edge. Separation of the needle from the suture can be achieved when desired by bringing the suture to bear under tension against the cutting edge of the tubing thereby severing the suture.

Abstract: Suture devices, primarily for use in endoscopic surgery, include a suture needle made of bioabsorbable material for pulling a length of suture material through bodily tissue allowing the suture needle to be inadvertently or intentionally left in the tissue, and a suture needle having a length of suture material attached thereto with a contractible loop or passage at the proximal end of the suture material to allow the suture needle to be passed therethrough, the loop or passage contracting to clamp or grip the suture material to function similar to a conventional tied suture knot.

Abstract: A combined surgical needle-suture device is disclosed in which the suture is received into a socket, or recess, formed within the blunt end of the needle, the entrance to the socket being defined by a circumferential sloping surface which terminates at its outer end in a circumferential cutting edge which provides quick and convenient suture cut-off capability when severing of the suture from the needle is desired.