Flat Tape Suture Anchor With Knotless Self-Locking Fixation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing surgical methods for repairing soft tissue injuries, particularly using flat tape sutures, lack a secure, knotless, and self-locking mechanism for fixation, leading to issues like knot irritation, tissue cutting, and inadequate tension adjustment.
Innovation Solution
A flat tape suture anchor with a knotless, self-locking mechanism, woven in an accordion pleat fashion, allowing for adjustable tension and secure fixation without knots, using a flexible suture body woven through multiple points to form a weave region.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional round sutures are used with knot fixation, then the suture can be secured in place, but knot stacks cause tissue irritation and damage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the knot from the suture fixation system entirely. Instead of tying knots to secure the suture, the design uses a flat tape suture that is looped through an anchor body and secured by the anchor's structural design, eliminating knot stacks that cause tissue irritation and damage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a flat tape suture instead of a traditional round suture. The flat tape configuration distributes the fixation force over a broader surface area, reducing stress concentration and eliminating the need for knots, thereby avoiding tissue irritation from knot stacks.
2Strength
If solid anchor bodies are used for suture fixation, then the anchor provides structural support, but the anchor requires a complementary sized hole increasing surgical invasiveness
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a thin, flexible anchor body constructed from tape suture material rather than a solid anchor. This thin-profile anchor can be inserted through smaller bone tunnels, reducing surgical invasiveness while still providing adequate structural support for soft tissue fixation.
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor body is constructed from composite tape suture material that combines flexibility with sufficient strength. This composite construction allows the anchor to be both thin enough for minimally invasive insertion and strong enough to provide the necessary structural support for tissue fixation.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If flat tape suture is used with knotless fixation, then tissue cutting is reduced, but there is no self-locking mechanism allowing infinite tensioning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a self-locking mechanism into the anchor body design where the flat tape suture is looped through the anchor and secured by the anchor's structural features. The system locks itself without requiring external knots or additional components, providing infinite tensioning capability while maintaining simplicity.
Solution Approach 2:
The anchor body is designed with dynamic features that allow it to adapt to tension forces. The self-locking mechanism enables the anchor to maintain fixation under varying tension conditions, providing both simplicity and functional flexibility in the knotless fixation system.
4Ease of operation
If traditional round suture anchors are used, then the anchor can be inserted, but the suture cuts through tissue and pull-out strength is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a flat tape suture configuration that distributes fixation forces over a broader surface area compared to round sutures. This flat tape design reduces stress concentration at any single point, preventing tissue cutting while maintaining adequate pull-out strength through the distributed load distribution.
Data Source
AI summary
A flat tape suture anchor and a method of anchoring soft tissue to bone. The anchor body consists of a flat tape with a repair suture and knotless self-anchoring mechanism woven therein to form an accordion pleat that accordions when opposing counter tension is applied thereby securing same.