Surgical implant

Claim 2

A surgical implant comprising a stud and pin, said stud having an elongated tubular cylindrical body and an outwardly facing outer cylindrical surface, said body being smooth in both the longitudinal and the circumferential direction and having at one end thereof an enlarged head and an opposite end having means for enabling said body to undergo radially outward expansion; a longitudinal passage formed in said body connecting each of said ends wherein said passage is smooth and continuous; said pin being elongated and having a smooth outer surface such that the pin is slidable into said passage from said end having the head thereby to cooperate with said means for enabling said body to expand radially outwardly, to expand said body; said head being concavely radiused and said stud and said pin being of biocompatible materials, said body containing carbon fibres wherein said fibres are oriented longitudinally relative to the longitudinal axis of said stud.

Claim 3

A stud as claimed in claim 1, in which the body has at least one slit in its wall, extending away from its end remote from the head to facilitate expansion thereof by the pin.

Claim 4

A stud as claimed in claim 1, in which the pin is cylindrical, and in which at least part of the passage tapers in a direction towards its end remote from the head, whereby the body is transversely expandible by insertion of the pin from the direction of the head along the passage into said tapered part.

Claim 5

A stud as claimed in claim 1, in which the pin is shorter than the passage, so that it can be inserted into the body with its one end at the end of the passage remote from the head, and its other end inwardly recessed from the end of the passage at the head.

Claim 6

A stud as claimed in claim 1, in which the head is shaped for engagement with a tool for turning the body about its axis.

Claim 7

A stud as claimed in claim 5, in which the countersunk part of the head is eccentric, being offset to one side with regard to the body.

Claim 8

A stud as claimed in claim 1, in which the fibres at the head diverge and curve radially outwardly from one another into the head.

Claim 9

A surgical kit which comprises a flexible cord for connecting together two bones in a mammal body, the cord comprising a tow of carbon fibres impregnated with a biocompatible material which causes the fibres to adhere to one another, the cord having a loop at one end thereof and the fibres extending from the end of the cord opposite the loop, along the length of the cord to the loop, around the loop and back to said opposite end, the cord being provided with a connector at said opposite end thereof for connection to pulling means for pulling the cord through a passage formed in bone, the connector comprising a length of flexible material having an eye at each end thereof, one of the eyes of the connector being embedded into the end of the cord and being adhesively secured thereto and the other eye being spaced from the end of the cord, the cord being adhesively secured to itself through said embedded eye and the part of the cord containing adhesive together with the connector between the end of the cord and the eye at the free end of the connector being covered by a sleeve in the form of a heat shrunk length of plastics tubing which tapers from where it surrounds the cord to where it surrounds the connector; a surgical implant comprising a stud and pin assembly for anchoring said cord, said stud having an elongated tubular cylindrical body and an outwardly facing outer cylindrical surface, said body being smooth in both the longitudinal and the circumferential direction and having at one end thereof an enlarged head and an opposite end having means for enabling said body to undergo radially outward expansion; a longitudinal passage formed in said body connecting each of said ends wherein said passage is smooth and continuous; said pin being elongated and having a smooth outer surface such that said pin is slidable into said passage from said end having the head thereby to cooperate with said means for enabling said body to expand radially outwardly, to expand said body; said stud and said pin being of biocompatible materials, said body containing fibres wherein said fibres are oriented longitudinally relative to the longitudinal axis of said stud, and said fibres of the stud are carbon fibres.

Claim 10

A surgical kit which comprises a flexible cord for connecting together two bones in a mammal body, the cord comprising a tow of carbon fibres impregnated with a biocompatible material which causes the fibres to adhere to one another, the cord having a loop at one end thereof and the fibres extending from the end of the cord opposite the loop, along the length of the cord to the loop, around the loop and back to said opposite end, the cord being provided with a connector at said opposite end thereof for connection to pulling means for pulling the cord through a passage formed in bone, the connector comprising a length of flexible material having an eye at each end thereof, one of the eyes of the connector being embedded into the end of the cord and being adhesively secured thereto and the other eye being spaced from the end of the cord, the cord being adhesively secured to itself through said embedded eye and the part of the cord containing adhesive together with the connector between the end of the cord and the eye at the free end of the connector being covered by a sleeve in the form of a heat shrunk length of plastics tubing which tapers from where it surrounds the cord to where it surrounds the connector; a surgical implant comprising a stud and pin assembly for anchoring said cord, said stud having an elongated tubular cylindrical body and an outwardly facing outer cylindrical surface, said body being smooth in both the longitudinal and the circumferential direction and having at one end thereof an enlarged head and an opposite end having means for enabling said body to undergo radially outward expansion; a longitudinal passage formed in said body connecting each of said ends wherein said passage is smooth and continuous; said pin being elongated and having a smooth outer surface such that said pin is slidable into said passage from said end having the head thereby to cooperate with said means for enabling said body to expand radially outwardly, to expand said body; said stud and said pin being of biocompatible materials, said body containing fibres wherein said fibres are oriented longitudinally relative to the longitudinal axis of said stud, and said fibres of the stud are carbon fibres.

Claim 11

A kit as claimed in claim 8 in which the biocompatible material which impregnates the tow comprises sterile gelatine.

Claim 12

A kit as claimed in claim 7, in which said fibers of said cord are twisted or braided.

Claim 13

A kit as claimed 8, in which the anchor member is in the form of a toggle shaped anchor bar having two limbs which extend away from each other from a corner where they make an obtuse angle with each other, the anchor bar having a radius which is at least 102 times that of the diameter of the carbon fibres of the tow, and the free ends of the limbs of the anchor bar being flattened to provide bearing surface for bearing against bone at the mouth of the passage through bone.

Claim 14

A kit as claimed in claim 8, in which the loop of the cord is permanently engaged with the anchor member.

Claim 15

A kit as claimed in claim 8, in which the flexible material of the connector comprises a length of malleable wire.