Patent ID: 7695494

Claim:
A method of using suture to secure soft tissue with respect to a body cavity, comprising: passing a length of suture material through soft tissue so that a loop of suture material is disposed in the soft tissue, resulting in two free ends; passing the two free ends of the length of suture distally through an aperture in an anchoring structure and into a longitudinally disposed lumen of an anchor body through an open proximal end of the lumen, the open proximal end disposed distally of the anchoring structure, and looping the two free ends about a suture return member disposed in the anchor body such that the two free ends of the suture extend proximally from the lumen through said open proximal end and the aperture, the anchor body having a longitudinal axis extending from the proximal end to a distal end, said lumen extending along said longitudinal axis; inserting the anchor body and the anchoring structure into the body cavity; fixing the anchor body with respect to the body cavity wherein said step of inserting is separate from the step of fixing, and wherein the step of fixing comprises deforming a connecting portion between the anchor body and the anchoring structure such that the anchoring structure is pivoted less than 90 ° relative to the longitudinal axis; tensioning the loop of suture material by pulling on one or both of the two free ends of the length of suture, to approximate the soft tissue with respect to the body cavity as desired and wherein said step of fixing is carried out independent from tensioning, pulling or otherwise manipulating the sutures; and compressively locking a portion of the length of suture within the lumen of the anchor body.