Patent ID: 9724183
Date: 2017-08-08
CPC Classifications: A61B,A61F

Claim:
1. A surgical method for fastening a flexible planar structure to hard tissue or hard tissue substitute material with the aid of an implant, the method comprising the steps of: providing the implant which comprises a distal end portion and a proximal end portion and, arranged on the proximal end portion, a solid first material having thermoplastic properties and being liquefiable by application of energy, providing the flexible planar structure which comprises a first and an opposite second principal surface, and which, at least in a connection area, comprises at least one of pores and spaces and a solid second material having thermoplastic properties and being liquefiable by application of energy, establishing a first connection between the connection area of the flexible planar structure and the proximal end portion of the implant, and establishing a second connection between the distal end portion of the implant and the hard tissue or hard tissue substitute material, wherein, in the step of establishing the first connection, the proximal end portion of the implant is pressed against the connection area of the flexible planar structure and the first material is liquefied at least partly by application of mechanical vibration energy to the proximal end portion of the implant for a time sufficient for establishing at least one of an interpenetration of the pores or spaces by the liquefied first material and a weld between the first and second material, and wherein establishing the second connection comprises impinging the implant with mechanical movement and simultaneously pressing the implant against the hard tissue or hard tissue substitute material while the distal end of the implant protrudes into a cavity of the hard tissue or hard tissue substitute material, thereby liquefying at least a portion of the liquefiable material, and letting the liquefiable material resolidify.