Patent ID: 8801716

Claim:
A method of repairing cartilage in a patient comprising: guiding a deformable trephine having a longitudinal axis toward a donor site of the patient, the trephine having two open ends and a longitudinal axis; removing a cartilage plug from the donor site in the patient with the longitudinal axis of the trephine at a first configuration; removably inserting the trephine into a rigid cannula, the cannula having a nonlinear longitudinal central axis having a first portion with a first curvature and a second portion with a second curvature different from the first curvature; advancing the trephine along the cannula to a defect site, the cannula deforming the longitudinal axis of the trephine to corresponding first and second curvatures as the trephine advances within the rigid cannula; and attaching the cartilage plug to the defect site in the patient with the longitudinal axis of the trephine at a second configuration.