Patent ID: 8277483

Claim:
Apparatus operable to close a wound in a patient's tissue, said wound presenting an insertion site and an elongated, obliquely oriented tract extending into the patient's tissue and in communication with said insertion site, said apparatus comprising: a body having an elongated force-transmitting surface having a length greater than the width thereof, at least a portion of said elongated force-transmitting being tapered along the length thereof, said body operable to be placed in an external wound-closing position with said force-transmitting surface proximal to the patient's skin, adjacent and in spanning relationship to said wound, and also in general axial alignment with said tract; and a force-exerting assembly coupled with said body and operable to exert forces of different magnitudes at different locations along the length of said force-transmitting surface in order to close the wound, said forces adapted to be greatest adjacent one end of said force-transmitting surface closest to the patient's heart, and decreasing along the length of the force-transmitting surface away from the patient's heart, in order to apply a greater pressure adjacent said one end of the force-transmitting surface.