U.S. Pat. No. 3,570,497 to Lemole (Mar. 16, 1971) discloses a suture apparatus having a needle end, cord of latch notches, and a latch collar end. To use the suture, a needle is first affixed to the needle end. A surgeon then pulls the needle through the tissue to be sewn and the needle, followed by the cord for a number of latch notches selected by the surgeon, is continued on through the collar latch passage. The surgeon then severs the suture above the last notch pulled through the latch collar to complete a stitch. U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,047 to Yoon (Oct. 1, 1991) discloses somewhat similar suture devices (see, e.g. FIGS. 4 through 9 of the Yoon patent). The devices are asserted to be useful as suture devices since they can cinch tissue without the need to tie a knot in the suture cord.
One drawback of these devices however is that, due to the way they are designed, they can continue closing thus further constricting the tissue even after the surgeon has "completed" the cinching process. This can especially occur when the stitched tissue moves. Due to movement of the stitched tissue, the needle end of the suture cord can be continually pushed through the collar thus tightening the device. Since the cord has latches, movement in the opposite "loosening" direction is prevented. If the needle end is pushed far enough in the tightening direction however, the next "latch notch" will interact with the collar, and the suture will tighten further possibly causing pain and tissue damage.
These devices also, when they are cinched, do not allow for much movement or "play" in the suture near the connection point thus possibly damaging the stitched tissue more than absolutely necessary when the stitched tissue moves.