Soft Tissue Repair Felt Patch With Distributed Fiber Fixation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing medical implants for repairing tendons and ligaments achieve mechanical connection only in small areas, leading to potential failure due to suture pull-out or elongation, which compromises tissue regeneration and healing.
Innovation Solution
A felt material with fibers that are pushed or pulled through soft tissue using barbed needles to create a strong mechanical connection over an extended area, enhanced by additional fibers of higher tensile strength and layers for reinforcement, and optionally soaked with drugs or adhesive films for improved fixation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If sutures are used to attach the implant to soft tissue, then the implant can be secured, but the connection area is limited and suture pull-out or elongation can occur leading to failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental attachment mechanism from point-based suture fixation to area-based fiber penetration fixation. Multiple fibers are pushed through the soft tissue to create numerous small penetration points distributed across a broad contact area, transforming the fixation paradigm from concentrated to distributed stress distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
The implant is divided into multiple individual fibers rather than a continuous membrane. These segmented fibers can be independently pushed through the soft tissue at different locations, creating a distributed array of fixation points that increase both the contact area and reliability of attachment.
2Reliability
If sutures are used to attach the implant to soft tissue, then the implant can be secured, but suture elongation can occur compromising tissue regeneration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the elastic properties inherent in suture materials by using rigid or semi-rigid fibers that maintain their shape and position. The fibers are pushed through the tissue to create fixed penetration points that do not elongate, providing stable spacing and preventing gap formation during the healing process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the flexible, elastic suture mechanism with a rigid fiber penetration mechanism. Instead of relying on knotting and tensioning of flexible threads, the fixation is achieved through the mechanical interlocking of fibers embedded in the tissue, eliminating the elongation problem associated with sutures.
Data Source
AI summary
Felt material (1) comprising a multitude of fibers (2) for use in a method of repairing or augmenting human or animal soft tissues (3), wherein the felt material (1) is in the form of a matting or felted patch (9) comprising a first surface (5) and oppositely arranged a second surface (6) for contacting a surface of soft tissue (3), and wherein some of the fibers (2) of the felted patch (9) are pushed or pulled through the second surface (6) into the soft tissue (3) by means of a needle (10) producing a connection between the felt material (1) and the soft tissue (3). Further, a set of instruments is provided which comprises a needle (10), a stitching device (30) and a clamping device (20) comprising a first jaw (21a) which is frame-like configured permitting the tip portion of the needle (10) to penetrate the first jaw (21a) and a second jaw (21b) with a cavity (29) configured to receive the tip portion of the needle (10).