Disposable arthroscopic suture cutting device

Inventors

Miller, Peter • Muser, Andrew

Assignees

Conmed Corp

Abstract

A suture cutter that can easily load and retain a tensioned or un-tensioned in place for cutting. The cutter has a handle with a an integral lever and a shaft is coupled to and extending from the handle. A tip has a cutting channel with a cradle for entrapping a suture prior to cutting. A piston in the handle drives a blade pusher to cut the suture in response to movement of the lever. A guide assembly in the body is formed from a pair of members folded together via a living hinge to provide a slot for the head of the piston. The pusher is planar and oriented horizontally within the shaft, while the blade is planar and is oriented vertically at right angles to the pusher. The blade has a tab that is captured by a notch in the pusher to interlock the blade and the pusher.

Core Innovation

The suture cutter includes a handle having a body and a lever integrally formed so that the lever is biased to return to an initial position when moved from the initial position to an actuated position. A shaft extends longitudinally from the handle to carry a tip, and the tip includes a channel extending transversely across the tip that permits access to a cradle and includes a blade moveable within the tip between a retracted position and an extended position in which the blade traverses the cradle.

A piston is positioned within the handle and is moveable longitudinally within the handle in response to movement of the lever. A pusher is interconnected to the blade and the piston so that movement of the lever from the initial position to the actuated position causes the blade to move from the retracted position to the extended position. The handle body includes a guide assembly having a pair of opposing members with corresponding opposing slots that align to form a guide for a head of the piston.

The pair of opposing members of the guide assembly are coupled together by a pair of living hinges. The lever-driven piston movement is constrained by the aligned opposing slots, and the lever actuation is mechanically transferred through the piston and pusher to extend the blade across the cradle. The tip channel provides a transversely extending tapered channel that funnels a taut or untensioned suture into the cradle, with additional embodiments that include blocking surfaces and a channel cover that opens under suture contact to prevent untensioned sutures from escaping prior to cutting.

Claims Coverage

The independent claim is supported by dependent claims that add specific mechanical refinements to the lever-biased, piston-driven suture cutting and to the tip/channel suture containment features. The main inventive features described across the independent claim center on biased lever actuation, guided longitudinal piston motion using a hinge-coupled slot guide, and blade extension through a tip cradle accessed by a transversely extending channel.

Overall claim coverage emphasizes a lever-biased suture cutter in which lever movement drives a longitudinal piston, which via a pusher extends a blade across a cradle in a tip accessed by a transversely extending channel. The piston head motion is constrained by an aligned opposing-slot guide formed by hinge-coupled opposing members.

Stated Advantages

Documented Applications