SYSTEMS FOR DEPLOYING KNOTLESS SUTURE ANCHORING CLAMPS

摘要

Suture locking clamps for securing prostheses such as heart valves or annuloplasty rings with sutures and without knots improve the ease of implantation. The clamps have opposed clamp halves separated by a slot opening to one side and surrounded by a biasing member such as one or more C-clip springs. Sutures pass laterally into the slot which is held open by a retention member positioned between the clamp halves. The locking clamp slides along the sutures into position, the tension of the sutures is adjusted, and the retention member removed to allow the biasing member to clamp the sutures between the clamp halves. A delivery tool used to deliver and deploy the locking clamps contains a number of clamps within a delivery tube in a stack and bonded together for safety and a common retention member. The tool has a longitudinal channel on one side for entry of sutures.

主权项

1. A system for locking a device on one or more sutures, comprising:
one or more sutures each having a thickness; a bifurcated locking clamp including a pair of substantially similar clamp halves each having an exterior surface with outward flanges on opposite axial ends and an inner surface facing the inner surface of the other clamp half to form a variable sized slot therebetween, the clamp halves being hinged together on a first circumferential side such that the variable sized slot defines a variable sized opening on the side opposite the first circumferential side, and such that the clamp halves are configured for pivoting movement toward or away from one another while being fixed axially with respect to one another, wherein the suture(s) extend through the slot between the inner surfaces of the clamp halves; a biasing member positioned on the outside of the locking clamp between the outward flanges that retain the biasing member in position, the biasing member having a relaxed size that, in the absence of an object in the slot, urges the inner surfaces of the clamp halves together such that the slot has a width smaller than the suture thickness; and a retention member positioned between the clamp halves against the force of the biasing member and having a thickness that maintains the slot width large enough to permit passage of the suture therethrough, wherein removal of the retention member permits the biasing member to urge the inner surfaces of the clamp halves together and clamp the suture(s) therebetween.