ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 24 -- United States Patent no. 12,582,446, issued on March 24, was assigned to Stryker European Operations Ltd. (Carrigtwohill, Ireland).
"Collapsible surgical fastener" was invented by Nils Zander (Eckernforde, Germany), Manfred Wieland (Kiel, Germany) and Bernd Simon (Kiel, Germany).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A surgical fastener includes a cannulated collapsible fastening body having a trailing end and a leading end and defining a passage extending from the trailing end to the leading end, and a pin having a non-threaded shaft at least partially disposed within the passage and an enlarged tip. A method of using the surgical fastener includes engaging an end of a dr...