Device for simultaneous insertion and injection
Current treatment for knee meniscal tears is not always effective. A series of minimally invasive devices are proposed which utilize the injection of chondrocyte cells into the meniscus, where the chondrocyte cells act as a conduit between the vascular and avascular regions of the meniscus to promote healing of meniscal tears. These devices consist of an introducer needle and obturator to locate the site on the meniscus, a coring needle to create a hole in the meniscus, and a mechanism that allows the chondrocyte cells to be injected into this hole while the needle is being retracted from the meniscus. The injection mechanism was designed to ensure precision filling of the hole left by the coring needle. These devices were designed to be compatible with each other in arthroscopic surgery. A step by step surgical procedure was developed to properly utilize these devices. The coring needle was tested with a bovine knee to ensure the ability to core a hole in the meniscus, and the injection device was tested to ensure the viability of the mechanism. Future work would add a device to hold the meniscus during coring and injection. Together, these devices show the viability of injecting chondrocyte cells into the meniscus to heal meniscal tears that are not easily treated through currently available arthroscopic surgeries.
