Importance

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Abstract

A surgical knot tier instrument (10) for use in conjunction with a needle (29) connected to suture thread (13) and a pair of surgical forceps (31), for placing a knot (11) in a wound (15) in body tissue (17), is described. The knot tier instrument is comprised of an elongate rod member (19) having a relatively small circular cross-section along a longitudinal axis A--A of the rod. This allows the rod to be introduced into a body cavity through an entry puncture wound for helping a physician or surgeon to close the wound in the body tissue without having to completely open up the body cavity. A proximal, working end (21) of the rod is provided with a notch (25), formed diametrically across an end face (23) of the rod, and a slot (27), which is provided diametrically across the face, offset 90.degree. from the notch. During the surgery procedure, the forceps are used to manipulate the needle connected to the suture thread to pull the needle with the suture thread through the wound. The slot in the rod which is magnetized then acts to receive and hold the needle to free up the forceps. The forceps can now be manipulated to regrasp the needle to form the knot in the suture thread. The notch is then mounted on the knot with the opposed ends of the suture thread extending from the opposed ends of the notch. The notch is used in conjunction with the forceps to tighten and center the suture on the wound. That way, the suture knot helps to draw the tissue on either side of the wound together in a uniform manner.

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First Claim