Patent ID: 8062332

Claim:
A surgical needle, which comprises: an elongated substantially linear needle body defining a central longitudinal y-axis along which the needle body extends and transverse x and z-axes, the needle body including a central shaft portion, a first suture end portion for attachment to a suture and a second needled end portion for penetrating tissue, the needled end portion having three sides which intersect to define three cutting edges and terminate at a needle point, each side including one sole pair of planar surface portions arranged in oblique relation to define a general concave appearance to each side, the needled end portion further defining an enlarged transition portion adjacent the central shaft section, the enlarged transition portion defines a z-dimension “z 1 ” and an x-dimension “x t ”, “x t ” being greater than a corresponding x-dimension “x 1 ” of the central shaft, wherein the z-dimension “z t ” is defined as being transversely perpendicular to the central longitudinal y-axis and extending between a first cutting edge and a second cutting edge, and wherein the x-dimension “x t ” is defined as being offset 90° from the z-dimension “z 1 ” and extending between a third cutting edge and a surface portion between the first cutting edge and the second cutting edge; the needle point being displaced a predetermined distance with respect to the longitudinal axis and wherein the predetermined distance is less than ½ the x-dimension “x t ” of the enlarged transition portion; and at least one side of the needled end portion being displaced in the x-dimension “x t ” by an angle α from a plane parallel to the longitudinal axis, the angle α being between about 2° and 10°, wherein the side of the needled end portion displaced by angle α from the plane parallel to the longitudinal axis has a substantially continuous slope between the enlarged transition portion and the needle point.