Patent ID: 8679134

Claim:
A suture driving assembly, the assembly comprising: at least one needle assembly comprising a tissue piercing end distal to an elongate shaped section, the shaped section having a curvilinear shape, the shaped section being elastically deformable into a strained state and upon release to an unstrained state assumes the curvilinear shape, a suture coupled to the needle assembly; a main body having a distal end and at least one retrieving passage terminating in the distal end; a suture retriever assembly coupled to the main body; at least one constraining channel extending through the main body and having a guide segment having a guide shape different from a shape of the constraining channel, the guide segment opening into the distal end, a portion of the constraining channel maintaining the needle assembly in the strained state, where the guide shape of the guide segment is shaped to allow the shaped section of the needle assembly to revert to the curvilinear shape prior to leaving the guide segment and prior to entry into tissue; when the tissue is located in the distal end, distal advancement of the needle assembly causes the shaped section to exit the guide segment in the curvilinear shape while penetrating the tissue and causing the suture to follow the curvilinear shape through the tissue, where further advancement causes the tissue piercing end to enter the retrieving passage; and where the constraining channel comprises a first centerline and the guide segment has a second centerline, where the first and second centerlines are not in alignment, where the second centerline is congruent with at least a part of the shaped section of the needle assembly such that when the part of the shaped section enters the guide segment, the part reverts to the curvilinear shape prior to entry into the tissue.