Patent ID: 8292903

Claim:
A medical device, comprising: an elongate body member including a distal portion that defines an internal curved carrier channel and an internal driver guide track; and a suture deployment system including a curved suture carrier and a carrier driver, the curved suture carrier includes a sharpened distal end for penetrating tissue of a patient, the curved suture carrier is disposed entirely within the carrier channel when the curved suture carrier is in a retracted position and the curved suture carrier is disposed at least partially outside of the carrier channel when the curved suture carrier is in a deployed position, the carrier driver moves through the guide track and into the carrier channel as the curved suture carrier is moved from the retracted position to the deployed position, the carrier driver is attached to the curved suture carrier at a point along the circumference of the curved suture carrier and not at a distal end of the curved suture carrier such that when the curved suture carrier is fully deployed a sufficient portion of the curved suture carrier remains in the carrier channel which helps to guide the curved suture carrier and keep it from drifting off of a prescribed arcuate path as the curved suture carrier is moved from the retracted position to the fully deployed position.