US 12,232,981 B2
Hydraulic implant introducer
Richard Clay Hales, Alpharetta, GA (US)
Assigned to STRYKER CORPORATION, Portage, MI (US)
Appl. No. 17/596,395
Filed by CARTIVA, INC., Alpharetta, GA (US)
PCT Filed Mar. 25, 2020, PCT No. PCT/US2020/024547
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Dec. 9, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/015828, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 28, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/878,516, filed on Jul. 25, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0233334 A1, Jul. 28, 2022
Int. Cl. A61F 2/46 (2006.01)
CPC A61F 2/4618 (2013.01) [A61F 2002/4627 (2013.01)] 6 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An articular cartilage implant delivery system comprising:
a main body extending from a first end to a second end and a channel defined therein for delivering a supply of saline solution therethrough;
a nozzle removably attached to the second end of the main body,
wherein the nozzle is configured with a male threaded portion and the main body is configured with a female threaded opening at its second end for receiving the nozzle's threaded portion for removably attaching to the nozzle,
wherein the nozzle extends away from the second end of the main body and terminates with a neck portion,
wherein the nozzle comprises a lumen extending therethrough and in fluid communication with the main body's channel,
wherein the nozzle further comprising an articular cartilage hydrogel implant in a compressed state pre-loaded and positioned in the lumen, and
wherein the lumen of the nozzle forms a dispensing opening at the neck portion for dispensing the pre-loaded hydrogel implant and a nozzle input opening at the end opposite from the dispensing opening;
wherein the hydrogel implant has a leading end, a trailing end, and an exterior sidewall extending between the leading end and a trailing end;
wherein the lumen of the nozzle has a generally frusto-conical shape, whereby the dispensing opening has a smaller diameter than the nozzle input opening;
wherein the channel of the main body has a smaller diameter than the dispensing opening of the nozzle;
wherein the dispensing opening has a smaller diameter than the leading end of the hydrogel implant, whereby in the compressed state inside the lumen, the hydrogel implant has the same diameter as the lumen;
a syringe for holding and delivering a supply of saline solution to the main body, wherein the syringe is connected to the first end of the main body and in fluid communication with the channel of the main body; and
a flexible tubing connecting the syringe and the first end of the main body.