Patent ID: 7727257

Claim:
A surgical needle comprising: a crimping zone for securing a suture to the needle; the needle being made of a hyper-elastic alloy which, after treatment, has two distinct states; one of the two distinct states allowing the needle to be forced into a roughly elongated position when the needle is housed in an internal bore of a cannula or an applicator; another of the two distinct states allowing the needle to adopt, after extraction from the cannula or the applicator, a curved profile as a result of superelasticity or hyper-elasticity of the needle, the curved profile having the shape of an arc of a circle; and the needle having a free end comprising a tapered point which includes an inclined heel portion, wherein the inclined heel portion is arranged on an inside portion of the curved profile and is structured and arranged to bear against an interior wall of the internal bore of the cannula or the applicator when the needle slides within the internal bore, whereby a profile of the tapered point is protected, and wherein the hyper-elastic alloy contains between about 54% and about 58% of nickel and between about 42% and about 46% of titanium.