Patent ID: 8002796

Claim:
A surgical needle which comprises: a needle body including proximal and distal ends, and defining a longitudinal axis, the needle body including from distal to proximal: a hemispherical needle tip; a plurality of surfaces extending from the hemispherical needle tip, each of the surfaces being substantially planar; and a projecting element disposed between adjacent surfaces, the projecting element extending radially outwardly from the normal vertex formed by the intersection of the substantially planar surfaces with respect to the longitudinal axis and having an outer cutting edge, the outer cutting edge being coterminous with the hemispherical needle tip thereby leading to a smooth transition from the needle tip to the cutting edge wherein the adjacent surfaces define a first dimension transverse to the longitudinal axis to the needle body and the hemispherical needle tip define a second dimension transverse to the longitudinal axis greater than the first dimension.