Patent ID: 9610076
Date: 2017-04-04
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. A wound closure device, comprising: a first pusher comprising a distal portion with a helical shape; a housing supporting the first pusher, the distal portion of the first pusher being extendable along a helical path exterior from said housing; a first sharp tip disposed at a distal end of the distal portion of the first pusher; and a first suture portion engaged with the first pusher; wherein the first pusher is configured to push the first sharp tip along said helical path to penetrate body tissue, the first suture thereby being pulled through said body tissue along said helical path, the first suture thereafter being separable from the first pusher, and the first pusher being retractable from said body tissue along said helical path to leave the first suture extending through said body tissue, wherein said housing comprises a first port, the first sharp tip being disposed within said housing before penetrating said body tissue, and the first sharp tip and said distal portion of the first pusher configured to move outward through said first port to penetrate said body tissue, the wound closure device further comprising a second pusher comprising a distal portion with a helical shape, a second sharp tip disposed at a distal end of said distal portion of the second pusher, and a second suture portion, the second pusher being oriented relative to the first pusher to penetrate body tissue generally opposite from the first pusher, the first suture portion and the second suture portion thereby being adapted to pull together generally opposite walls of said body tissue defining a wound; wherein said helical shapes of said distal portions of the first pusher and the second pusher each define an axis, said axes being nonparallel and being angled outward with respect to each other toward said distal ends; wherein an included angle between said axes is an acute angle.