Medical closure device

Abstract

A medical closure device (1; 20) comprising an inner member (2; 23), which is adapted to be positioned against an inner surface of a tissue wall, and a retaining member (3; 13; 21), which is attached to the inner member, wherein the retaining member is in the form of a loop made up by multiple coils of at least one filament, the coils lying side-by-side one another such that when increasing tension is applied in the loop, at least one of the at least one filament breaks apart before side-by-side portions of the at least one filament slide readily with respect to one another.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates generally to the field of sealing or closure devices for, e.g., the sealing of a percutaneous puncture in a vessel wall, and in particular to the class of sealing devices that comprises an intra-arterial member, which is held in place by a retaining member, and more particular to the special characteristics of this retaining member.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]In U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,828, which is assigned to the present assignee and whose entire contents are incorporated herein by reference for the sealing devices and methods disclosed therein, a sealing device is disclosed for sealing a puncture hole in a vessel wall. This sealing device comprises an inner sealing member, an outer locking member, and a retaining member. The inner sealing member is adapted to be positioned at an inner surface of the vessel wall, while the outer member is adapted to be positioned at an outer surface of the vessel wall. In use, the inner an...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]As was stated above, in a medical sealing or closure device it is generally known to hold an inner member thereof by means of a retaining member, which can be provided in the form of a suture or filament. The sealing device is usually delivered into a puncture hole by some kind of insertion and positioning assembly, and to arrange the retaining member in the form of a loop provides thereby certain advantages, because a loop can easily be attached to and handled by the other elements of the insertion and positioning assembly. For this reason it is less favorable to produce a loop from a thread whose ends are tied together, because there is a risk that the resulting knot gets stuck in the insertion and positioning assembly during the delivery procedure. To create a loop by gluing together the ends of a thread is also less practical, because, for example, glue has to harden, and care must be taken to ensure that there is no excess glue that can contaminate the other parts of the insertion and positioning assembly and thereby jeopardize its proper functioning. The most elegant way of creating a loop is perhaps to thread one portion of, for example, a suture into another portion of the same suture, such that when the suture is subjected to tension, friction between the suture portions increases and holds the loop intact. The threading of one portion of a suture into another portion of the suture is, however, a rather time-consuming procedure, and requires a considerable amount of manual dexterity to manufacture, and is less suited for large-scale production.

[0010]To prevent any tendency of unwinding of the filament(s) in a loop, some adherent material or property can be provided to cause the filaments to adhere to one another. Such an adherent, which could be an adhesive or a tacky material, e.g. wax or grease, or a conventional suture coating material, can be applied either to the surface of the loop itself, or to the surface of the individual filaments constituting the loop. Herein, the term “adherent” is meant to encompass all such adherent materials. An adherent should, however, not be confused with an adhesive such as glue which is used as the actual means that holds the loop together. Herein, an adherent is mainly used to prevent the filaments of the loop from fraying, but such an adherent can also increase the friction between the surfaces of neighbouring filament coils in a loop.

Problems solved by technology

For this reason it is less favorable to produce a loop from a thread whose ends are tied together, because there is a risk that the resulting knot gets stuck in the insertion and positioning assembly during the delivery procedure.

To create a loop by gluing together the ends of a thread is also less practical, because, for example, glue has to harden, and care must be taken to ensure that there is no excess glue that can contaminate the other parts of the insertion and positioning assembly and thereby jeopardize its proper functioning.

The threading of one portion of a suture into another portion of the suture is, however, a rather time-consuming procedure, and requires a considerable amount of manual dexterity to manufacture, and is less suited for large-scale production.

Images