Pliable silk medical device

Abstract

An implantable, pliable knitted silk mesh for use in human soft tissue support and repair having a particular knit pattern that substantially prevents unraveling and preserves the stability of the mesh when cut, the knitted mesh including at least two yarns laid in a knit direction and engaging each other to define a plurality of nodes.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A process for making a pliable, knitted surgical mesh, the process comprising the steps of:
 knitting a first silk yarn in a first wale direction;   knitting a second silk yarn in a second wale direction;   knitting a third silk yarn in a first course direction; and   knitting a fourth silk yarn in a second course direction;   thereby obtaining the pliable knitted surgical mesh.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1  wherein one of the first or the second silk yarns are knitted using the knit pattern 3/1-1/1-1/3-3/3. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 2  wherein the other of the first or the second silk yarns are knitted using the knit pattern 1/1-1/3-3/3-3/1. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the two movements in the wale direction occur on separate needle beds using a knitting machine having two needle beds. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 2 , wherein the two movements in the wale direction occur on separate needle beds using a knitting machine having two needle beds. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 3 , wherein the two movements in the wale direction occur on separate needle beds using a knitting machine having two needle beds. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the silk yarns are made of a nine filaments twisted, and sericin depleted silk fibers. 
     
     
         8 . A surgical mesh made using the process of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         9 . A surgical mesh made using the process of  claim 2 . 
     
     
         10 . A surgical mesh made using the process of  claim 3 . 
     
     
         11 . A surgical mesh made using the process of  claim 4 . 
     
     
         12 . A surgical mesh made using the process of  claim 7 .