Free Floating Needle Suture Loop for Tissue Fixation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical suture materials lack sufficient strength and effective methods for securing soft tissue to bone, leading to inadequate fixation and prolonged healing times.
Innovation Solution
A continuous loop of high-strength suture attached to a free floating needle, allowing for even tensioning and recentering of the needle, which enables maximum suture fixation strength and accelerated tissue healing by threading the suture through or around tissue with minimal trauma.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a swaged needle is attached to the suture, then the suture can be easily threaded through tissue, but the needle cannot be recentered if suture strands are uneven, reducing fixation strength
Solution Approach 1:
The needle is separated from the suture loop, allowing independent movement and recentering. The needle can be detached and repositioned without affecting the suture strands, enabling correction of uneven suture tension while maintaining ease of tissue threading.
Solution Approach 2:
The free-floating needle design allows dynamic repositioning during the surgical procedure. The needle can be moved, recentered, and repositioned along the suture loop to achieve optimal alignment and even tension distribution across the suture strands, thereby maximizing fixation strength.
2Strength
If multiple passes are made through tissue with traditional sutures, then adequate fixation can be achieved, but tissue trauma increases, prolonging healing time
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous loop suture configuration allows for multiple passes through the tissue without requiring cutting or retying. The suture maintains continuous tension and contact with the tissue throughout the procedure, providing sustained fixation strength while minimizing the number of discrete insertion events that cause trauma.
Solution Approach 2:
The needle is discarded after a single use to thread the suture, eliminating the need for repeated needle insertions. The suture itself is recovered and reused multiple times in continuous loops, reducing cumulative tissue trauma from repeated foreign object insertion while maintaining adequate fixation strength.
3Strength
If high-strength suture material is used, then fixation strength is improved, but the ability to allow accelerated tissue healing is compromised due to increased tissue reaction
Solution Approach 1:
The suture system distributes mechanical load across multiple locations and strands rather than concentrating stress at a single point. This local distribution of forces reduces the mechanical stimulus to the tissue, decreasing the inflammatory response and allowing accelerated healing while maintaining overall fixation strength through the combined effect of multiple suture segments.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for tissue repair employing a continuous loop of suture attached to a free floating needle. The free floating needle is not swaged on the suture so that, after passing the suture loop construct through the tissue to be treated, the needle may be recentered if the suture strands are uneven.