Marked prosthesis

Abstract

The present invention relates to a prosthesis (10) intended to be implanted at an implantation site, comprising information means designed to guide the surgeon in order to implant the prosthesis in a specified position, said prosthesis comprising at least one fabric called the base fabric (2) and having at least one apertured surface (3), said information means comprising at least one patch (4, 5) having a color different from that of the base fabric, said patch being provided with at least one barb (6) projecting from one of its surfaces and grippingly fastening said patch to said apertured surface of said base fabric at a specific place on said surface, the presence of said patch at said specific place bearing information designed to facilitate implantation of the prosthesis in said specified position. The invention also relates to a kit comprising a fabric and a patch.

Claims

1. A prosthesis comprising: at least one base fabric having at least one apertured surface, and an information means comprising a plurality of gripping fabrics having a color different from that of the base fabric, each gripping fabric being provided with at least one barb projecting from a surface of the gripping fabric designed to fasten the gripping fabric to the apertured surface of the base fabric at a specific place on the apertured surface, the presence of the gripping fabric at the specific place bearing information designed to facilitate implantation of the prosthesis in said specific place, wherein the at least one barb is formed from a yarn coming from an arrangement of yarns which form the gripping fabric.

2. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein the base fabric has two apertured surfaces and one or more gripping fabrics are grippingly fastened to each of the two apertured surfaces.

3. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein the base fabric is a knit.

4. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein the base fabric is a two-dimensional knit.

5. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein the base fabric is a three-dimensional knit.

6. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein the base fabric is a combination of a two-dimensional knit and a three-dimensional knit.

7. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein at least one gripping fabric of the plurality of gripping fabrics is apertured.

8. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein at least one gripping fabric of the plurality of gripping fabrics is made of a biodegradable material.

9. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein at least a first gripping fabric of the plurality of gripping fabrics has an overall shape of an arrow.

10. The prosthesis according to claim 9, wherein at least a second gripping fabric of the plurality of gripping fabrics has a disc shape.

11. The prosthesis according to claim 10, wherein the first and second gripping fabrics each have an area ranging from 0.5 to 6 cm.sup.2.

12. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein at least one gripping fabric of the plurality of gripping fabrics is removable and refastenable to the at least one base fabric.

13. The prosthesis according to claim 1, wherein the at least one barb has a length defined so as to penetrate into and catch onto the apertured surface of the base fabric without passing from one side of the base fabric to a second side of the base fabric.

14. A kit comprising: at least one base fabric having at least one apertured surface, and, a plurality of gripping fabrics having a different color from that of the base fabric, each gripping fabric being provided with at least one barb projecting from a surface of the gripping fabric, the at least one barb designed for grippingly fastening the gripping fabric to the at least one apertured surface of the base fabric, wherein the at least one barb is formed from a yarn coming from an arrangement of yarns which form the gripping fabric.

15. The kit of claim 14, wherein the yarn that forms the barb is a monofilament yarn.

16. The kit of claim 14, wherein at least one gripping fabric of the plurality of gripping fabrics is a knit.

17. The kit of claim 14, wherein at least one gripping fabric of the plurality of gripping fabrics is repositionable on the at least one base fabric upon removal from the at least one base fabric.

18. The kit of claim 14, wherein at least a first gripping fabric of the plurality of gripping fabrics has an overall shape of an arrow.

19. The kit of claim 18, wherein at least a second gripping fabric of the plurality of gripping fabrics has a disc shape.

20. A prosthesis comprising: at least one base fabric having at least one apertured surface, and at least one gripping fabric having a color different from that of the base fabric, the gripping fabric being provided with at least one barb projecting from a surface of the gripping fabric designed to fasten the gripping fabric to the at least one apertured surface of the base fabric at a specific place on the apertured surface, the presence of the gripping fabric at the specific place bearing information designed to facilitate implantation of the prosthesis in said specific place, wherein the at least one barb is formed from a yarn coming from an arrangement of yarns which form the gripping fabric, and the at least one gripping fabric includes at least a first gripping fabric having an overall shape of an arrow and a second gripping fabric including a disc shape.

21. A kit comprising: at least one base fabric having at least one apertured surface, and, at least one gripping fabric having a different color from that of the base fabric, the gripping fabric being provided with at least one barb projecting from a surface of the gripping fabric, the at least one barb designed for grippingly fastening the gripping fabric to the at least one apertured surface of the base fabric, wherein the at least one barb is formed from a yarn coming from an arrangement of yarns which form the gripping fabric, and the at least one gripping fabric includes at least a first gripping fabric having an overall shape of an arrow and a second gripping fabric including a disc shape.

Description

(1) The advantages of the present invention will become more clearly apparent in the light of the following description and the appended drawings in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a top view of a kit according to the invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a patch of a prosthesis according to the invention; and

(4) FIG. 3 is a top view of a prosthesis according to the invention.

(5) Referring usefully to FIG. 1, a kit according to the present invention is shown in general by the reference 1. The kit 1 comprises a base fabric in the form of a piece of fabric 2 of rectangular overall shape. This piece of fabric 2 may have an area ranging from 4 to 1600 cm.sup.2 and may advantageously be used for repairing an abdominal wall hernia. The piece of fabric 2 has two surfaces, an apertured surface 3 of which is visible in the figure.

(6) Such a fabric with at least one apertured surface may be obtained using the following method: a three-dimensional knit is produced on a 22-gauge Raschel knitting machine using six needle-guide bars threaded one full/one empty with white polyethylene terephtalate (PET) multifilament yarns (50 dtex; 22 filaments), using the following schemes, according to ISO 11676:

(7) Bar 1: 1.2.1.1/1.0.1.1/1.2.1.1/1.0.1.1/1.2.2.2/3.2.2.2/1.2.2.2/3.2.2.2//

(8) Bar 2: 1.2.2.2/3.2.2.2/1.2.2.2/3.2.2.2/1.2.1.1/1.0.1.1/1.2.1.1/1.0.1.1//

(9) Bar 3: 0.1.0.1/0.0.0.0//

(10) Bar 4: 0.1.0.1/0.0.0.0//

(11) Bar 5: 1.1.0.1/1.1.2.1/1.1.0.1/1.1.2.1/2.2.2.3/2.2.2.1/2.2.2.3/2.2.2.1//

(12) Bar 6: 2.2.2.3/2.2.2.1/2.2.2.3/2.2.2.1/1.1.0.1/1.1.2.1/1.1.01/1.1.2.1//

(13) Bars 1 and 2 form one surface of the fabric, bars 5 and 6 form the opposite surface of the fabric and bars 3 and 4 form the spacer linking the two surfaces together.

(14) Such a construction results in a white three-dimensional knit having openings measuring about 2.51.7 mm on both its surfaces.

(15) FIG. 1 also shows a first patch 4 and a second patch 5. The first patch 4 has the overall shape of an arrow and the second patch 5 takes the form of a disc. Each of these patches is provided with barbs 6 projecting perpendicular to one of their surfaces, as shown in FIG. 2, which is a cross-sectional view of the second patch 5. For example, the first and second patches (4, 5) may each have an area ranging from 0.5 to 6 cm.sup.2.

(16) In this example, the patches (4, 5) are made of a gripping fabric obtained in the following manner: a knit is produced on a 24-gauge weft knitting machine using 3 needle-guide bars. Bars 1 and 2, intended to form the body of the gripping fabric, are threaded one full/one empty with 0.09 mm diameter green polyethylene terephtalate (PET) monofilament yarns according to the following schemes, according to ISO 11676:

(17) Bar 1: 1.0/0.1//

(18) Bar 2: 4.5/1.0//.

(19) Bar 3, intended to form the monofilament lap resulting in the barbs is threaded 1 full/3 empty with a 0.15 mm diameter green polylactic acid (PLA) monofilament yarn according to the following scheme, according to ISO 11676:

(20) Bar 3: 3.4/0.0/2.1/5.511.

(21) The barbs are then produced by melting the loops of the lap produced by bar 3 according to the method described in WO 01/81667.

(22) The above construction also gives rise to a gripping fabric having apertured surfaces.

(23) FIG. 3 shows a prosthesis 10 according to the invention produced from the kit 1 of FIG. 1. To produce the prosthesis 10, first and second patches (4, 5), with the barbs 6 directed towards the apertured surface 3 of the piece of base fabric 2, have simply been applied and pressure exerted thereon. The first and second patches (4, 5) were applied at specific places on the apertured surface 3 of the base fabric so as to provide particular information to the surgeon carrying out the implantation.

(24) The prosthesis 10 was thus produced in a simple and particularly rapid manner.

(25) For example, the first patch 4 in the shape of an arrow can allow the surgeon to differentiate the left-hand part of the prosthesis from the right-hand part.

(26) For example, the second patch 5, of round shape, may indicate to the surgeon the location of the median line of the prosthesis.

(27) Because of their apertured structure, the first and second patches (4, 5) do not affect the good cell colonization capability of the base fabric. In addition, because of their colour, which differs from that of the base fabric, the patches are immediately visible and easily able to be interpreted by the surgeon.